Feature: The Namesake Review

By Elaine G. Flores

First-rate Name

You know those movie review clichés promising that a film will “make you laugh and make you cry”? Well, The Namesake does exactly that, sending viewers on an emotional roller coaster set in motion by a combo of writing and acting that sparks an intense, familial bond with the characters. The movie, which blends comedy, drama and romance, is directed and produced by the acclaimed Mira Nair, whose winning track record includes Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding.

The story, based on a novel by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri, opens in Calcutta during the mid-1970s. In the wake of a catastrophic event, Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) moves to the United States but then returns to India to find a bride, the beautiful and curious Ashima (Tabu). Upon Ashima’s

arrival in New York, the homesick newlywed begins a long and never fully-realized adjustment to this different world. Before long, the couple welcomes a son “temporarily” named Gogol, after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol, until the family can come up with a proper name. The tale leaps ahead approximately 18 years, and we meet the teenaged Gogol, a surly yet winsome stoner with a seemingly non-existent connection to his Bengali heritage. The role is played with heart and intelligence by Kal Penn, who co-starred in the comedy Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle. Gradually, we watch Gogol baby-step his way into manhood with plenty of bumps and stumbles along the way.

Like his on-screen parents Khan and Tabu, Penn’s performance is nuanced and authentic. The Gangulis are just so real and relatable that one has to care deeply about the characters. Over the course of two hours, theatergoers become a part of the family. Be prepared for audible sniffling among the audience during key moments.

Adapting a novel for the screen is dicey and often thankless work, but Sooni Taraporevala’s screenplay mimics the epic, slowly-developing quality of the novel. It sometimes feels a wee bit long but is always compelling. Nair’s direction is refreshingly sly and creative. Whether it’s a hectic street scene in Calcutta, a desolate New York winter or the dream-like serenity of a Rockwellian suburb, the movie relays a solid sense of time and place. Nair’s use of flashbacks, parallels and thoughtful camerawork (such as a blurred image moving out of the frame during a pivotal heartbreaking scene) make for a visually arresting experience.

Interestingly enough, though The Namesake is written and directed by a troika of women, the film convincingly presents a male point of view without propping itself up with typical “movie guy” devices. In fact, all of the characters from stoic Ashoke to guilt-inducing Ashima to Gogol’s lovers—chirpy, earnest Maxine or the Jolie-esque siren Moushumi—are presented with enough layers to make for vérité. Despite all-too-human lapses of martyrdom, callousness or outright deception, none of the characters are simply good or bad. Like real people, they just are. Regardless of culture, there is universal appeal in Gogol’s struggle to forge an identity while grappling with the expectations of family. What’s in a Name? A helluva lot.

The Namesake opens March 9. For more information, check out the official Web site at: www.foxsearchlight.com/thenamesake.

Elaine G. Flores is a feature writer for Soap Opera Digest, columnist for the St. Louis American and freelance writer. She is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and lives in New York.

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