The Atwood Stories

An anthology of digital-video passion projects based on open-ended short stories by acclaimed writer Margaret Atwood, these 24-minute made-for-TV films by young Canadian directors offer an often-mesmerizing exploration of emotional disconnection. Available in six single-episode VHS versions (series price: $479) or three double-episode DVDs (series price: $199), the opening volume in the DVD series kicks off with the too-cursory "Polarities," which finds a handsome young professor becoming entwined with an unstable graduate student--a quietly intense young woman (played with disconcerting allure by Michelle Barbara Pelletier) who is attractively intellectual on the surface but may be disturbingly unhinged underneath. The second, better piece, "Man From Mars," directed with empathetic emotional complexity by Lynne Stopkewich (best known for 1996's evocative Kissed), concerns a timid, lonely, downtrodden-for-being-plus-sized college coed torn between apprehension and self-esteem-boosting flattery when she's stalked--or perhaps just clumsily admired--by an awkward Asian exchange student. Actors Emily Hampshire and Jovanni Sy give engrossing, multifaceted performances that vividly plumb their characters' insecurities and idiosyncrasies in this potent one-act drama. The other titles are "Betty," "Death By Landscape" (both available on the second DVD), "Isis In Darkness," and "The Sunrise" (both available on the third DVD). Recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Blackwelder)