One Great Lie

The representation theory of locally compact groups has been vig­ orously developed in the past twenty-five years or so; of the various branches of this theory, one of the most attractive (and formidable) is the representation theory of semi-simple Lie groups which, to a great extent, is the creation of a single man: Harish-Chandra.

The representation theory of locally compact groups has been vig­ orously developed in the past twenty-five years or so; of the various branches of this theory, one of the most attractive (and formidable) is the representation theory of semi-simple Lie groups which, to a great extent, is the creation of a single man: Harish-Chandra.

The film tells the tale of a drug-addicted father, and as the tagline goes, “Today he will pay.” Unfortunately it’s not a great idea to owe money to psycho drug dealers and he pays with much more than money.

Mikio Naruse was a contemporary of the great post-war Japanese masters Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi and indeed his works lie somewhere in between Ozu’s natural rhythms of everyday family life and Mizoguchi’s outlook on female issues and social injustices. In some respects Naruse even surpasses these two great directors in their own areas, his films being more naturalistic and not as formally rigid as Ozu, tackling a wider range of subjects and issues, those concerns often being adapted from the works of female authors, giving them a truer perspective on female issues than Mizoguchi, whose films can often seem like a man’s guilt-ridden perspective on the treatment of women in society.

From the very start one can feel the almost transcendental rapport between the young soloist, barely turned twenty, and the aging maestro. One can dip into the recording at almost any point and feel the magic… There is an inevitability about the whole performance that is not easy to analyse or rather, as with most great works of art, analysis often tends to obscure instead of clarify wherein the greatness lies. Why is Mona Lisa such an undisputed masterpiece? Both the painting and this recording go directly to the heart… And that is exactly what Janet Baker’s singing of Sea Pictures also does… It is so magically performed here… Behind and above…Janet Baker looms Sir John’s spirit, loving and sensitive.