SHOW OF THE WEEK: Monkey Beach (Jan. 6, 9 p.m., Crave)
PHOTO CREDIT: Ricardo Hubbs
I can’t possibly say what it will take to bring about true reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in this vast country of ours, but maybe one very modest, infinitesimal step forward involves consuming culture made by Indigenous people that tells Indigenous stories.
“Monkey Beach” is the film version of Haisla/Heiltsuk author Eden Robinson’s novel of the same name. If you pay any attention to the arts in Canada, you’ve likely heard of Robinson. Her 2017 novel “Son of a Trickster” was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Giller Prize, and is the basis of the CBC TV series “Trickster,” which debuted earlier this year. “Monkey Beach” was likewise nominated for the Giller after it came out in 2000, as well as a Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.
Like “Trickster,” “Monkey Beach” is set in Kitimaat Village in B.C., the main community of the Haisla Nation, although when we first meet heroine Lisa (Secwepemc actor Grace Dove, who’s known for “The Revenant”) she has run away to Vancouver.
Forces that Lisa isn’t entirely comfortable with compel her to return to Kitimaat and her family. Lisa has been having visions since she was a child, in particular a disturbing premonition of her younger brother Jimmy dying (Joel Oulette, the young Cree/Metis actor who also stars in “Trickster”).
Like “Trickster,” “Monkey Beach” combines a plot that anybody can relate to — a young woman on a journey of self-discovery — with supernatural elements drawn from Indigenous tradition. It also touches on Indigenous trauma, specifically murdered and missing Indigenous women and the blight of residential schools.
Filmmaker Loretta Todd, who directed and co-wrote the script, is of Metis and Cree heritage while the cast is virtually all Indigenous, including Adam Beach (“Arctic Air”), Nathaniel Arcand (“FBI: Most Wanted”), Stefany Mathias (“Da Vinci’s Inquest”), Tina Lameman (“Mixed Blessings”) and Glen Gould (“Cardinal”).
Murdoch Mysteries and more (Jan. 4 to 10, CBC)
as William Murdoch on “Murdoch Mysteries.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC
Quite seriously I had to give CBC its own special category this week. The deluge starts Monday with the return of “Murdoch Mysteries” for its 14th season and “Frankie Drake Mysteries” for its fourth (Jan. 4, 8 and 9 p.m.). The “Murdoch” premiere special guest is none other than Charlie Chaplin (Matthew Finlan), who’s in Toronto with a travelling vaudeville show. And if you’re a fan of vaudeville and silent movies, you’ll enjoy seeing which other famous comedians turn up. Meanwhile, Frankie (Lauren Lee Smith) and her sidekicks are on a scavenger hunt in the woods when they find — what else? — a dead body.
Jan. 5 at 9:30 p.m. brings a new comedy series, “Humour Resources,” which features Jon Dore as an HR manager who coaches comedians via webcam, including Sarah Silverman, Aisha Brown, Scott Thompson and more. That’s preceded by the Season 28 (!) debut of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” (8:30 p.m.) and never-before-seen sketches from “Baroness von Sketch Show” in “The Final Season: Bonus Episodes” (9 p.m.).
On the same night, CBC’s documentary channel debuts “Anyone’s Game” (9 p.m.), a docuseries about the Oakville high school that turns out some of the world’s best basketball players (it makes its main channel CBC debut on Jan. 15).
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC
If you’re intrigued by ancient history, “The Nature of Things” has “Searching for Cleopatra” (Jan. 8, 9 p.m.), which is both a hunt for the truth about the last queen of Egypt, immortalized via Hollywood as a sexy seductress, and a literal search for her tomb in the ruins of Taposiris Magna.
Finally, a miniseries version of the famous Victor Hugo novel “Les Miserables” premieres Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. I haven’t pre-screened it, but it has a crackerjack cast, including Dominic West (“The Wire”) as Jean Valjean, Olivia Colman (“The Crown”) as Mme. Thenardier, David Oyelowo (“Selma”) as Javert and Lily Collins (“Emily in Paris”) as Fantine. It’s preceded at 7 p.m. by the Season 14 premiere of family drama “Heartland.”
All of these shows will be available on the CBC Gem streaming service, which will also debut Season 3 of the Idris Elba-created dramedy “In the Long Run” on Jan. 8.
Phew!
Surviving Death (Jan. 6, Netflix)
leads a meeting in “Surviving Death.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix
What happens when we die? It’s a question that might hit closer to home more now than ever given how many people have been lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This docuseries suggests that human consciousness survives physical death. Over six episodes it explores the question through phenomena like near-death experiences, mediums, apparitions and reincarnation.
And it’s not just the people who claim to have had such experiences making the case; doctors and scientists also weigh in. A doctor, in fact, describes her own NDE in the first episode, after a kayaking accident left her physically dead for 30 minutes and she could feel, in her words, “my spirit peeling away from my body” and being greeted by warm, loving beings in a pathway full of flowers and exploding colours, in which every second was an eternity.
Yes, it sounds pretty far out.
But as another NDE survivor puts it: “At the end of the day I can’t prove to you, I can only share my experience with you.”
Netflix’s other offerings this week include “Lupin” (Jan. 8), a French crime drama that blends a heist at the Louvre with a story about a man seeking vengeance for racial injustice. It stars Omar Sy (“The Intouchables”) as the gentleman thief. If you’re a fan of clever people, humour and New York City, you should catch “Pretend It’s a City” (Jan. 8), a docuseries featuring Fran Lebowitz in conversation with filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who also directed. Also debuting: “History of Swear Words” (Jan. 5), which apparently is exactly that, hosted by Nicolas Cage.
All Creatures Great & Small (Jan. 10, 9 p.m., PBS)
PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Squire/Playground Television (UK) Ltd.
I have never read the memoirs of James Herriot, nor seen more than scattered episodes of the beloved 1970s and ’80s TV adaptation of his books, but I found this new version of the story of a young veterinarian in Yorkshire very appealing.
In fact, I binged all seven episodes in one sitting when I meant to watch just a few and move on to other shows.
It’s set in the late 1930s when Scotsman James (Nicholas Ralph, in an impressive screen debut) travels to the village of Darrowby for what’s probably his last shot at a veterinary career, as assistant to the prickly Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West, “Mr. Selfridge”). After a baptism of fire or rather birth, involving a cow whose calf is stuck, he gets to keep the job.
There’s no question this show is a throwback, with a very white and male POV, but it’s also got charm galore, able acting (including Anna Madeley, Callum Woodhouse and Diana Rigg in one of her final roles), breathtaking scenery, gentle humour and drama that’s modest but touching, involving both animals and humans.
Odds and Ends
If you found yourself caught up in Season 1 of Apple TV Plus’s “Dickinson,” a biographical series about poet Emily Dickinson (Hailee Steinfeld) that’s audacious and funny and thought-provoking in the way it combines period drama with modern language, music and perceptions, you’ll be glad to know that Season 2 is afoot, debuting Jan. 8.
The moment that woke reality TV lovers have been agitating for is finally here, when ABC’s “The Bachelor” (Jan. 4, 8 p.m., Citytv) debuts its first Black lead (lagging behind “The Bachelorette,” which just finished a season with its second Black lead). Entreprenuer and philanthropist Matt James is in the hot seat. And yes, I’ll be recapping it here.
Also coming to Citytv is a new season of “Hudson and Rex” (Jan. 5, 8 p.m.). I don’t know about you, but I think everything’s better with dogs. If you’re looking for a brand new comedy, “Mr. Mayor” (Jan. 7, 7 p.m., Citytv), from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (“30 Rock”), stars Ted Danson as a rich businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles as a joke and wins. Holly Hunter plays his deputy.
TVO Kids has Season 2 of the sports competition series “All-Round Champion” (Jan. 6, 5 p.m.), in which 10 young North American athletes compete in a sport that’s not their own, mentored by Olympian guest judges. It’s hosted by Canadian Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien.
HBO has the Spanish drama “30 Coins” (Jan. 4, 9 p.m.), a horror series that takes its title from the money that the Bible says Judas Iscariot was paid for betraying Jesus Christ.
Super Channel Fuse has a new factual series, “Secrets in the Ice” (Jan. 5, 8 p.m.), about historic treasures hidden in the coldest places on Earth, including a Siberian mummy and the remains of woolly mammoths.
Sundance Now has Season 2 of “A Discovery of Witches” (Jan. 9), which finds Matthew (Matthew Goode) and Diana (Teresa Palmer) hiding in Elizabethan London. The first season will be available to stream free on Sundance Now and Shudder from Jan. 4 to 18, according to AMC Networks.
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