Past, Present, Future at TIFF 2024
by Thom Ernst – Film Correspondent
(September 8, 2024 – Toronto, ON) Director Johnny Ma’s The Mother and the Bear is a warm and accessible dramedy immigrant story about a woman with no intentions of immigrating. Sara (Kim Ho-Jung, pictured below) arrives in the dead of a Winnipeg winter to be with her adult daughter Sumi (Leere Park), who remains in an induced coma after either slipping on the ice or being attacked by a bear which happened to stroll into an inner-city alleyway. The dilemma as to whether the accident was ‘ice-or-a-bear’ is given short consideration. Ma prefers to chart Sara’s evolution towards understanding her daughter and the life she has chosen to live in Canada.
The Mother and the Bear values the relationship between mother and daughter, the depth of which becomes understood when one of the two ends communication. As a love story, The Mother and the Bear covers a lot of ground, reaching beyond the relationship between Sara and Sumi and into Sara’s need for companionship when she meets Sam (Won-Jae Lee), the owner of a Korean restaurant.
The Mother and the Bear will have the 2nd of its two screenings tonight at 9:15 at the Scotiabank Theatre.
Set in the near future, as are so many films at TIFF 2024, is director and screenwriter Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness? In contemporary vernacular, the term ‘witness’ can refer to sharing a spiritual revelation but in Flemming’s film, a witness is a government official assigned to witness end-of-life ceremonies.
Fleming imagines a world where 50 is the maximum age anyone is allowed to live. Death at 50 is not just mandated but has become a moral obligation so that the planet has the chance to recover from the mess. Kiah (Keira Yang ) is a young sketch artist hired to document the final moments of people scheduled to die. (Photography has become a privilege lost to the past). Kiah joins Daniel (Joel Oulette), dressed conservatively in jacket and tie, in attending EOL ceremonies. The first day is difficult for Kiah, who carefully watches the more seasoned Daniel for behavioural cues. But for Kiah, the most challenging day is yet to come.
Can I Get a Witness? It is a small film loaded with big issues. At times, the story feels satiric, and snippets of dialogue reference the satire as if to confirm suspicion. But Can I Get a Witness? works best when it doesn’t bow to explanations and exposition—the second act falters by trying to explain too much too fast before it picks up again in the 3rd act.
Sandra Oh also stars as Kiah’s mother, proud of her daughter’s accomplishment, and the brand new ‘old’ refrigerator that has just been delivered to the home, despite government restrictions on electricity and appliances.
Can I Get a Witness? had its last of two screenings yesterday.
Thom Ernst (pictured above at TIFF 2022), is a Toronto based film critic and writer and an active member of the (TFCA) Toronto Film Critics’ Association. His work has appeared in various publications including Playback Magazine, The Toronto Star, and The National Post. He is also a contributor to Original Cin. He was host, interviewer and producer of televisions’ longest running movie program Saturday Night at the Movies on TVOntario.
