The Namesake

Saw it last night and really enjoyed it - besides the story being done extremely well ( I thought ) the cinematography in India in particular was fantastic. Made me want to visit Kolkota even more!

I saw it yesterday in the United States and REALLY enjoyed.

Well for you two guys this is probably about your experience, but i wonder what an indian from india, you know people like like Lawgone or Soulcurry or Ashique (bless him), would make of it. What do you think? would it be a bit shocking or enlightening? Or do you think that their (modern indians) lives are pretty much the same as yours? You know same values, same outlook?

Where the hell are they all anyway?

I thought it was a very disappointing movie.

I didn't read the novel (Roy's short stories are excellent though) but the movie feels like a litany of events, without an overall theme. Perhaps that litany faithfully mirrors the style of the book. Characters are not fully developed, things just happen at random (from the train accident at the start to the infidelity at the end). The whole "Gogol's overcoat" business is sophomoric, Iowa-writers-workshop stuff.

A Hindi-movie convention (low comedy, in the form of the running servant) is attempted. A Bengali-movie convention (interminable crying scene) is also attempted. It isn't quite credible that Jacinda Barrett (once voted one of the world's most beautiful women, plus she's about seven feet tall) would date Kal Penn, who is a very good actor but not a matinee idol by any means. It's all a hodge-podge.

This movie was a great chance to depict the Indian diaspora, but all you see here is that people move to the US and buy houses in the suburbs and are generally fine and they quickly accept their daughters marrying Americans. He's going away to...to...all the way to Ohio! Cue the violins! It's a flabby movie. Mississippi Masala...now that was a movie that challenged its audience. The director has grown up and gotten soft.

The head-shaving after the father's death had "punch", though. Some little things, like Barrett's inappropriate clothing at the funeral, and the reaction to her addressing the parents by their first names, were very smoothly done but not overdone.

Kolkata is lovingly and professionally photographed but there are technical flaws...for example, the overpasses (raised carriageways) shown in early scenes did not exist in the seventies, they started building them in the nineties to alleviate congestion. Irfan Khan is absolutely perfect as a Bengali, from undernourished look to body language to accent, it's hard to believe he's actually a major Bollywood star born in Rajasthan. But Tabu's Bengali accent is clearly non-native...why couldn't they find Bengalis to play these roles?

Actually there was another scene I liked a lot, because it is so quintessentially Bengali. Walking on the Victoria Memorial grounds, Khan attempts to ask how she feels about him. Tabu laughs and says "You want me to say 'I love you', like the Americans?" Slight pause, then he says (in Bengali) "Yes". Another pause, and then she says ambiguously (also in Bengali) "Yes". She never looks at him.

Another flaw:

when the Ganguli family visits Calcutta in 1977 one of the advertisements on the streets is for the Calcutta based newspaper "Telegraph". The Telegraph was established in 1982.

I'll wait until it comes out on DVD at the local Indian supermarket and get a copy there.

Cheers
Zoltan

A tough film crowd (and fascinating). Maybe, I'll just buy the book..

#7 you are correct - it is a tough crowd. I'm not a theatre critic and I do not know if it was accurate or not. All I know is that I enjoyed it as a movie.

David and Margaret gave it 3 1/2 stars.

They liked the subtle performances.

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<hr>It isn't quite credible that Jacinda Barrett (once voted one of the world's most beautiful women, plus she's about seven feet tall) would date Kal Penn, who is a very good actor but not a matinee idol by any means.<hr></blockquote>

That's a daft sort of criticism. Jacinda Barrett is not dating Kal Penn. Her character is dating his character and from the short preview i saw, i thought he was pretty good looking. In Australia i have seen some pretty goodlooking white women with pretty goodlooking indian men. What's your problem? And she's not that much taller than him and tall women have to date someone and its very often a shorter man. Nicole and Tom - need i say more.