Miss Austen, PBS
Gill Hornby’s novel Miss Austen, originally published in 2020, has been adapted into a four-part Masterpiece period miniseries of the same name.PBS
The mystery as to why Cassandra Austen burned most of her novelist sister Jane’s letters not long after her death in 1817 is at the heart of Gill Hornby’s novel – originally published in 2020, and now adapted into this four-part Masterpiece period miniseries of the same name. The first episode, airing Sunday, begins with Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) rushing by horse and buggy to the deathbed of a dying vicar named Fowles – even though his daughter, Isabella (Rose Leslie), had explicitly asked Miss Austen not to come. In lively flashbacks, viewers come to learn how the Austen clan intersects with the Fowles family and discover the sense behind Cassandra’s seemingly insensible act.
Jane Austen – who turns 250 this year – is played with voyeuristic verve by Olivier-winning actor Patsy Ferran, who recently was Blanche DuBois to Paul Mescal’s Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, which was on stage in London and New York. Canadians can access Masterpiece through the streaming service PBS Passport by signing up as a member with Buffalo Toronto Public Media – or subscribe to the Prime Video PBS Masterpiece channel.
Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, Crave
Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue is a six-episode British thriller airing on Crave.Crave
I’ve had my fill of plane-crash survivor shows that become more and more like slow-motion disasters themselves as they overextend their mysteries over multiple seasons – but no fear of that here. This British thriller is over and done in six episodes, one currently landing each Friday on Crave. A small plane carrying 10 has plopped into the Mexican jungle during a flight from Guatemala to the United States – but only nine bodies are recovered nine days later. In flashbacks, viewers meet a former doctor – played by Canuck Eric McCormack – an insurance investigator, a photographer, a newlywed couple, an older self-proclaimed MAGA couple, a luchador, plus the pilot and a crew member. Bestselling suspense author Anthony Horowitz is behind the show – and while his dialogue can sound a bit flat, his mystery craft mostly makes up for it. I’m hooked after two episodes.
Picnic at Hanging Rock, CBC Gem
Picnic at Hanging Rock, a 2018 Australian miniseries starring Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer.Sarah Enticknap/CBC Gem
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Peter Weir’s Australian New Wave classic – which has received a 4K restoration for the occasions that can be found on the Criterion Channel and Prime Video. But the source material, Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel about fin-de-siècle female boarding-school students who vanish on a picnic, was also made into a 2018 Australian miniseries starring Game of Thrones‘ Natalie Dormer that credited Canadian Larysa Kondracki as showrunner. Reviewing for The Globe and Mail, John Doyle wrote: “It is what happens after the picnic scene that gives the series what the movie lacks. It explores the young women in depth, dramatizing their inner rage at being restricted and told to conform.” All six episodes on CBC Gem from May 2.
Islands, Prime Video
Filmed mostly in Tagalog, Islands focuses on a fortysomething Filipino immigrant named Joshua, caring for his parents in suburban Toronto.Circus Zero Films
Our hearts are all breaking this week for those affected by the senseless vehicle attack at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver. All I can think to do is highlight some of the great screen work by Filipino Canadians, who contribute so much to Canadian culture – starting with this 2021 drama by Martin Edralin. Filmed mostly in Tagalog, it focuses on a fortysomething Filipino immigrant named Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas), caring for his parents in suburban Toronto. After his mother dies and his cousin Marisol (Sheila Lotuaco) arrives from Kuwait to help, he must choose between familiarity or change. “So much happens to Joshua over the course of Islands, yet also not that much,” The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz’s wrote in his Critic’s Pick review. “Every moment – a minor embarrassment, a brief sliver of hope – only feels momentous because Edralin has created such a relatable, alive underdog of a character.”
Inay (Mama), Knowledge
Inay (Mama) explores the lasting impact of Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program on the children brought here from the Philippines after long separations from their mothers.Knowledge Network
This highly personal documentary, which explores the lasting impact of Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program on the children brought here from the Philippines after long separations from their mothers, won the Arbutus Award last fall at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Vancouver-based filmmaker Thea Loo’s two main interviewees are Jeremiah, her husband and cinematographer, and Shirley, her friend, both of whom have struggles with depression that Loo suspects are related to their unprocessed immigration experiences as children. At the deeply moving climax of the film, both Jeremiah and Shirley sit down with their mothers to talk, for the first time, about the challenges of reuniting with a parent they hardly knew in a country they didn’t know at all. The doc is honest and aching and is both about Filipino resilience and the need to break taboos about mental health within the diaspora. Made for British Columbia’s public broadcaster, Inay (Mama) is available to stream for free across the country at knowledge.ca or through the Knowledge app; it also broadcasts on May 8 and May 9.
