8The Shiatsu Centrefor Holistic WellbeingShiatsu acupressure massage treatmentsand training, all lengths and levels, forbabies, children and adultsYoga Chi Chi Gung KarateMassage Homeopathy Gift Vouchers35-37 Bread St <strong>Edinburgh</strong> EH3 9ALwww.theshiatsucentre.com 07821 264882 / 0131 229 0724English & foreign language courses all year roundConversational courses - Translation - Interpreting0131 220 511929 Hanover Streetwww.inlingua-edinburgh.co.ukORGANICNATURALHEALTH &BEAUTYHere at Neal’s Yard Remedies, we like to think ofourselves as pioneers. We were the first UK highstreet retailer to sell essential oils, and have beeninstrumental in making aromatherapy one of themost popular natural medicines today. All ouressential oils are 100% pure and unadulterated.~102 Hanover Street, <strong>Edinburgh</strong>0131 226 3223www.nealsyardremedies.com
New releases9BLACK DEATHBAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANSLEBANONNEWRELEASEBlack DeathFri 11 to Wed 16 JunChristopher Smith • UK/Germany 2010 • 1h42mDigital projection • 15 – Contains strong violenceCast: Sean Bean, Carice Van Houten, Kimberley Nixon, EddieRedmayne, David Warner, Tim McInnerny, John Lynch.Not a film you might readily expect to see gracing a<strong>Filmhouse</strong> screen, but Christopher (Creep, Severance,Triangle) Smith’s intelligent and mature film reaches farbeyond the genre norm and is well worthy of inclusionhere.England, 1348, the height of the bubonic plague. Rumoursabound of a remote group of people untouched by thelethal scourge decimating Europe. The local Abbot (DavidWarner) despatches knight Ulric (a splendidly phlegmaticSean Bean) and his mercenary band to investigate ifnecromancy is indeed holding the pestilence at bay. Theirguide, plucked from a local monastery, is conflicted novicemonk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne), whose forbidden lovefor a fair maiden means his faith will be put to the ultimatetest...Deftly alluding to such contemporary hot potatoes asreligious intolerance/delusion and global pandemic, as wellas the age-old matters of the nature of evil, faith, paganism,superstition and the Crusades, it’s a perfectly grottilydesigned, tremendously miasmic evocation of medievaltimes, and very much in the glorious tradition of the likes ofThe Wicker Man and Witchfinder General.NEWRELEASEBad Lieutenant: Port of Call NewOrleansFri 11 to Wed 16 JunWerner Herzog • USA 2009 • 2h2m • 35mmEnglish and Spanish with English subtitles18 – Contains frequent hard drug use, sex and very strong languageCast: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, Alvin ‘Xzibit’ Joiner,Fairuza Balk.When it was announced that one of cinemas greaticonoclasts, Werner Herzog, would be ‘re-imagining’ thework of another by spinning Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenantinto something new, its fair to say that eyebrows, not tomention a few hackles, were raised. Yet Herzog is right toinsist this is not a remake, and moving the action from NewYork to New Orleans is indicative of how far apart the filmsare from each other. Nicolas Cage is on electrifying formas Terence McDonagh, one of the few cops left in townafter a post-Katrina exodus, which is enough to get himpromoted. Crippled by a back injury he sustained duringthe hurricane, the prescription drugs do little to ease hispain, so he turns to the hard stuff, often having a snortwith Frankie (Eva Mendes), a high class hooker he thinkshe’s protecting, though, more often than not, she endsup looking out for him. When McDonagh is put in chargeof the investigation into the brutal murder of a family, hismoral compass gets lost and his behaviour becomes evermore erratic. Is he out of his depth or out of his mind?The film’s audacious humour is its trump card, and whileFerrara’s Bad Lieutenant was truly daring and brilliant, itwould be hard to argue that it was ever this much fun.NEWRELEASELebanonSat 12 to Wed 16 JunSamuel Maoz • Germany/Israel/France/Lebanon 2009 • 1h33mDigital projection • Hebrew, Arabic, French and English withEnglish subtitles • 15 – Contains strong language and violenceCast: Itay Tiran, Michael Moshonov, Oshri Cohen, Yoav Donat.Reminiscent of Wolfgang Petersen’s classic U-boatsetwar film Das Boot, Israeli director Samuel Maoz’sclaustrophobic Lebanon this time confines the actionalmost entirely to a tank. Based on Maoz’s ownexperiences as a young soldier, Lebanon once again findsan Israeli director – after Ari Folman with Waltz With Bashir– analysing his country’s ill-fated 1982 invasion of Lebanon.Where Folman’s animated documentary tested theboundaries of memory and reality with dazzlingly surrealimagery, Maoz ratchets up the tension by remaining largelywithin the suffocating metal confines of his platoon’sarmoured tank. Inside the tank are four soldiers: Asi theofficer, Yigal the driver, Hertzel the ammunition loader, andShmulik the gunner. Initially the group conforms to the warfilm stereotypes of stoic leader, scared novice, petulantbrat, and conflicted silent type. But as the film progresses,the characters develop a deeper complexity and theirpower structure becomes ambiguous.Largely leaving the wider politics to one side, the directorinstead etches a human portrayal of soldiers and civiliansalike. The horrors of modern urban warfare are made allthe more visceral through the lens of a gun sight, as Maozcreates a haunting examination of young men caught outof their depth in a situation they do not understand.
Change language