The Physician (15)
Based on Noah Gordon's 1986 historical novel, a blockbuster in Europe though not in his US homeland, this German production stars Ben Kingsley, Stellan Skarsgard and Tom Payne as (respectively) an 11th century Persian physician, an itinerant English barber-surgeon and the young boy with a gift for healing that both take under their wing. It originally screened on German TV, which accounts for its 148 minute running time.
The Choir
Red Violin director Francois Girard returns with another music-themed film, this one starring Dustin Hoffman as one of those hard-but-inspirational teachers so beloved of screenwriters. In this case he's the choirmaster at a prestigious music school. Kevin McHale (wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams in Glee) is the rebellious but gifted new arrival.
The Green Man (15)
Originally screened in 1990 as a BBC Two mini-series and based on Kingsley Amis's 1969 novel of the same name, The Green Man stars Albert Finney stars as a roguish hotel owner who's as fond of women and he is booze. He also enjoys a ghost story or two – the shade of a 17th century occultist is supposed to haunt his Green Man Inn – though when events take a turn for the supernatural, the stories don't seem quite so funny.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here