-Yes, I know that I regularly encourage you to watch Canadian Reflections and observe the work of young Canadian writers and directors in the short film format. Sometimes they're uneven or disappointing productions, but this week I implore you to catch Shoes Off!, an exquisite and award-winning (at Cannes, no less) drama. It's a sweet comedy, almost without dialogue but with gorgeous music. It's simply about the attempts by a lonely young man, Stuart (David Lewis), to talk to a lovely young woman (Deanna Milligan) he recognizes by her boots. It's a tiny, perfect comedy of manners and as a love story it's unpretentious and glittering. Deborah Day's Blind also airs this week. A young single woman (Krista Bridges, from Power Play) makes a blind date on the phone and heads out to meet the guy. Instantly she's part of a violent incident that changes everything. The drama moves swiftly and, while it's short, nothing is telegraphed. Much depends on Bridges, who carries the drama, and she's very good.
Shoes Off! and Blind air on Canadian Reflections, Sunday, 11:30 p.m., CBC
-Not many Canadian documentary filmmakers get an interview with Bill Clinton but Fern Levitt got him and he's got a lot to say in The Little Rock Nine, a good documentary about the bitter desegregation of an Arkansas school in 1957. That's when nine students attempted to attend an all-white school in Little Rock, a right they were guaranteed by the courts. The Governor of Arkansas sent the National Guard to stop them and President Eisenhower sent the army to protect them. Footage from those days is still shocking, revealing as it does a level of racism, bigotry and hatred that is unfathomable.
The Little Rock Nine airs on Turning Points of History, Monday, 9 p.m., History
-So, in the midst of all the repeats, along comes a new British mystery on Showcase. A Likeness in Stone is definitely a mystery - it's not a thriller with gun-wielding cops and a psycho on the loose. Murky and tangled, it starts in the usual fashion with the discovery of a body. The body of a young woman is found at the bottom of a reservoir. The area was flooded ten years before and, just before the flood, a group of students had a blow-out party. After the party, the young woman, Helena (Rebecca Palmer) disappeared. The investigating cop, Armstrong (Liam Cunningham), suspected a murder but couldn't prove anything. Now he's no longer a cop but he has the opportunity to solve the mystery and redeem himself.
The chief suspect was always an Oxford student, Stephen (Jonathan Firth, brother of the more famous Colin), who was Helena's boyfriend. On the fringe of the situation were Richard (Andrew Lincoln, the guy who played Egg on This Life) and Cathy (Katy Cavanagh). Now as the mystery is renewed, it emerges that the victim was a siren who attracted many men and toyed with several. Video footage from the night of the fatal party is endlessly interwoven into the drama and we see a beautiful, flirting young woman. Sure enough, under renewed pressure, the friends of the deceased start to crack and what we get in the end is a twist in the tale that explains a lot of peculiar behaviour. A Likeness in Stone is sinister and slick but it's also downright creepy in its treatment and portrayal of the victim.
A Likeness In Stone, Part 1 airs Tuesday,10 p.m., concludes Wednesday at 10 p.m., Showcase