On the March 15, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet Atom Egoyan and Amanda Seyfried of the new film “Seven Veils.” In this a new psychological thriller, now playing in theatres, Seyfried is Jeanine, a director dealing with repressed trauma as she mounts a production of her mentor’s most famous work, the opera “Salome.” Rich with metaphor and suspense “Seven Veils” is an intellectual thriller about art imitating life.
We also meet Sonequa Martin-Green. You know her from “Star Trek: Discovery,” “New Girl” and “The Good Wife.” She also played Sasha Williams, a main character and a survivor of the outbreak in “The Walking Dead.”
Today we’ll talk about her new film, the dark comedy “My Dead Friend Zoe,” now playing in theatres. In it she plays an Afghanistan veteran haunted by her late best friend Zoe. Now in civilian life, she searches for a way forward as she suffers from PTSD and tends to her retired Lieutenant-Colonel grandfather played by Ed Harris.
Then we meet Keira Jang, star of Can I Get A Witness?” a new Canadian eco-sci fi/coming-of-age film now playing in theaters. It’s set in a future where climate change and world poverty have been eradicated. To mitigate these modern-day issues, travel and technology are banned and every citizen must end life at 50. Documenting the process are artists as witnesses, like the character Kiera plays, a teenager on her first day on the job.
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a high five! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the thrills of “Black Bag,” the speculative “Can I Get A Witness?” and the psychological satire of “Opus.”
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Steph Vivier to have a look at movies in theatres including the thrills of “Black Bag,” the speculative “Can I Get A Witness?,” the psychological satire of “Opus,” the action of “Novocaine” and the aniimated antics of “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.”
SYNOPSIS: “Can I Get A Witness?” a new Canadian eco-sci fi/coming-of-age film starring Sandra Oh, and now playing in theaters, is set in a future where climate change and world poverty have been eradicated. To mitigate these modern-day issues, travel and technology are banned and every citizen must end life at 50. Documenting the process are artists as witnesses, like Kiah, a teenager on her first day on the job.
CAST: Keira Jang, Joel Oulette and Sandra Oh. Directed by Ann Marie Fleming.
REVIEW: “Can I Get A Witness?” is a science fiction film of ideas, not splashy special effects, that asks, What would you be willing to sacrifice for a better world?
The dystopian picture painted by director Ann Marie Fleming’s new film is something a little different from end-of-the-world movies like “The Road” or “Mad Max.” Fleming’s world is tranquil, picturesque, not at all the hellish landscape suggested by most dystopian stories. This movie imagines an idealized world, brought back from the brink of destruction and now free of climate change, poverty and inequality.
The price for a healthy planet is the elimination of anyone over the age of 50, a fate, the movie suggests, most people accept for the betterment of humanity.
The conflict comes, then, from the main characters, Kiah (Keira Jang) and Daniel (Joel Oulette), young witnesses whose job it is to document, through pen and ink, the ritualistic sacrifices and provide moral support for those who have reached their Best Before Date.
It is Kiah’s first day on the job. Her gig as a professional witness becomes personal as her mother Ellie (Sandra Oh) counts down the days to her fiftieth birthday.
Sacrifice lies at the heart of “Can I Get A Witness?” It wonders how far people are willing to go to create a better world for their children and loved ones. The solution is equal parts utopian and authoritarian, but Ellie and others seem more or less comfortable with doing their death duty. There is an aura of sadness to the scenes of sacrifice, but not resentment, and your enjoyment of the movie may well rest in your ability to buy into their unquestioning, altruistic behavior.
Instead of forgoing my life at fifty, I think I’d be investing in anti-aging creams. But that’s just me.
Sandra Oh’s warm performance goes a long way to selling the film’s audacious premise. Her character’s mix of grace and vulnerability, acceptance and commitment anchor the film in humanity and not just in the hot button issues surrounding its hypothesis.
As Ellie’s daughter, newcomer Keira Jang does much of the emotional heavy lifting. The film is at its best when she and Oh are in conversation. Their dynamic is familial, yet urgent as they approach the end of their time together. Those moments are heartfelt and do more in terms of answering the question at the film’s heart than any of the script’s rhetoric.
With very few exceptions, “Can I Get A Witness?” is subtle in its approach to the material. There is some clunky, scolding and expository dialogue and the use of the Ink Spots’ tune “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire” is a bit on the nose, but by the time the end credits roll, Fleming’s film proves to be a life-affirming sermon with several emotional high-points.
I’ll be hosting a screening of the new Anne Marie Flemming film “Can I get a Witness?” and a Q&A with star Keira Jang on Saturday February 8 at 4:30 pm at the Vic Theatre (808 Douglas St, Victoria, BC).
The synopsis: Blending live action and animation, the film is set in a postapocalyptic world in which travel and technology are virtually banned, and people who reach the age of 50 have to submit to death to control the size of the population, while young people are tasked with artistically documenting their final moments.
On the March 15, 2025 edition of The Richard Crouse Show we meet Atom Egoyan and Amanda Seyfried of the new film “Seven Veils.” In this a new psychological thriller, now playing in theatres, Seyfried is Jeanine, a director dealing with repressed trauma as she mounts a production of her mentor’s most famous work, the opera “Salome.” Rich with metaphor and suspense “Seven Veils” is an intellectual thriller about art imitating life.
