Tag: Going Native

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Going Native (May 8, 8:30 p.m., APTN)

What do you think of when you think of Indigenous culture? Beads and feathers? Powwow dances? Drum circles?

How about zombie movies, gourmet cuisine, cutting edge architecture or an award-winning winery? No? Then let Drew Hayden Taylor enlighten you.

The 58-year-old member of Ontario’s Curve Lake First Nation is no slouch himself when it comes to cultural contributions

Take a peek at his website and check out his list of accomplishments, which includes writing short stories, plays, novels, nonfiction books, TV and film scripts, acting as a writer-in-residence at several universities and as artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts.

I also think of Taylor as a cultural ambassador via documentaries like “Redskins, Tricksters and Puppy Stew,” “Searching for Winnetou” and “Cottagers & Indians” (based on his play of the same name).

In the 13-episode series “Going Native,” he spreads the word about Indigenous accomplishments and combats damaging colonial stereotypes.

Sure, that can be an uphill battle in a country like Canada, whose citizens consistently undervalue its cultural accomplishments, let alone those of its First Nations, but I urge you to check out “Going Native” nonetheless — not just because you’ll learn some things, but because it’s fun.

Taylor travels throughout North America (this was shot pre-pandemic) and uses humour and enthusiasm to share vignettes about Indigenous visionaries — people like architect Patrick Stewart, filmmaker Jeff Barnaby, video game designer Meagan Byrne and vintner Justin Hall, to name just a handful.

Taylor throws himself into his research, sometimes quite literally as when he attempts to mount a horse bareback at the home of the Pretty Young Man Indian Relay Team or gets chased by “zombie” Xander Jones. I’d put those in the “do not try this at home” category, but I’d happily sample the wine at Nk’Mip Cellars in Osoyoos, B.C., or the bison sausage at Toronto’s NishDish.

Other episodes delve into music, fashion, art, business, spirituality, survivalism, storytelling, sports and astronomy. And the series has already been renewed for a second season.

Sortez-Moi de Moi (May 7, 8 p.m., Crave)

This Quebec drama is attention-grabbing right out of the gate in that it’s rooted in the treatment of mental health — and not TV disease-of-the-week mental health but knotty, complex issues that won’t be resolved in an episode or even a season.

It should come as no surprise, either, that the patients aren’t the only ones struggling.

The series begins with a death — I won’t say whose — that has life-changing consequences for some of its characters, particularly crisis team social worker Clara St. Amand (Sophie Lorain), who’s devoted to her work but not to the bureaucracy behind it, and psychiatrist Justine Mathieu (Pascale Bussieres), who seems unsympathetic at first glance.

The other lead character is a charismatic patient with bipolar II disorder, David Ducharme (Vincent Leclerc), a condition that given his line of work (again, no spoilers) could be life-threatening.

Based on the two episodes available for review, the drama does an excellent job of teasing out the connections and complications between its characters, not giving too much away but leaving you wanting to know more.

The show is described as a psychological thriller, but it also plays at times like a medical or crime drama, one grounded in naturalistic performances. It’s based on an idea by actor Lorain and director Alexis Durand-Brault, known in Quebec for the TV series “Au secours de Beatrice” (“Helping Beatrice”), about an emergency room physician with psychological problems.

Also known as “Way Over Me,” “Sortez-Moi” debuts simultaneously in French, on Crave Super Ecran, and on Crave in versions that are dubbed or subtitled in English. 

Short Takes

Antiques Roadshow, Celebrity Edition (May 3, 8 p.m., PBS)

Prohibited from taking its show, well, on the road by the pandemic, this venerable series celebrated its 25th season by sending its appraisers to the homes of celebrities to assess their favourite things. The episode I screened featured Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, author Jason Reynolds, actor S. Epatha Merkerson, pro golfer Dottie Pepper and comedian Jay Leno (who, in an unintended bit of irony given his recent apology for making racist jokes about Asians, casually mentions all the Asian antiques scattered around his Newport, Rhode Island mansion). Most of the items in that first episode didn’t have outsized monetary value — apart from a couple of Kerrigan’s medals, particularly the one she won after that infamous 1994 injury — but that doesn’t dampen the vicarious thrill of peeking into famous people’s abodes.

The Drowning (May 6, Acorn TV, Sundance Now)

This drama explores the line between grief and obsession when a woman who lost her four-year-old son in a drowning accident spots a teenager on the street who looks remarkably like her child would at 14. Caution, reason and everything else is thrown to the wind as Jodie (Jill Halfpenny, “EastEnders”) sets out to prove that Daniel (Cody Molko) is actually her son Tom, whose body was never found that day at the beach. Rupert Penry-Jones (“Spooks,” “The Strain”) also stars as Daniel’s father, or abductor in Jodie’s eyes.

Odds and Ends

There are several shows of interest coming to Netflix this week, all of them embargoed for review until later in the week. Most notable is “Jupiter’s Legacy” (May 7), a made-in-Toronto family superhero drama starring Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb and Ben Daniels. It’s based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. Netflix also has Part 2 of “Selena: The Series” (May 4) about revered Mexican American singer Selena Quintanilla; and the docuseries “The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness” (May 5), about a journalist who spent decades trying to prove that serial killer David Berkowitz had not acted alone. 

From Apple TV Plus comes Season 2 of office comedy “Mythic Quest” (May 7) about a group of video game developers.