The Namesake
Synopsis
Two Worlds. One Journey.
American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.
Cast
Recent reviews
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I liked this movie a lot.
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(Quickie Review)
"The Namesake" is about an American-Indian family and their struggles with life, love and the importance of family and heritage, all within a healthy realm of individual decision making. The film has an underlining current of commentary on the loss of close-knit community of relations with people in modern day America, in comparison to other cultures.
It starts strong but runs out of gas and ideas to fully execute the story in a convincing way to me, even though it still trudges on for a solid two hours. At times, feeling like it's trying way to hard, the film tosses in several cliche tactics to manipulate emotions and pacing. It really could have benefited from a healthy dose of "less is more," though it's not a failure and I recommend it for a healthy dose of culture at the movies. I just wanted a lot more out of it.
-djg
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Foreign Film, India, Drama
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3.5 out of 5 (B)
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A rich experience. Not having read the book, I could still see they had to cut a great deal to make it a decent running time. Irrfan Khan and Tabu's performances are what carry the film. The photography was incredible and Nair used some wonderful techniques to carry the film along. The music did feel a bit out of place sometimes though.
Even if you cannot relate on a religious level, most of everyone should be able to connect on a familial level.
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I had read this book and never got around to seeing the movie and wanted to. From what I remember, it sticks close to the plot of the book and I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. The acting was pretty good as well.
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I was surprised that Karl Penn was in this film until he lit up a joint, rocked out to Pearl Jam and got his tongue caught in a girl's tonsils. Classic Kumar shenanigans. The Namesake is based on a book I can't be fucked reading about Indians travelling to America. It's nice but not exactly deep or complex, telling a fairly standard tale of adjustment, culture shock etc... The direction is also unremarkable with the overuse of grainy lenses to portray sadness as if the tears streaming out of a character's face weren't a giveaway. Nothing special but it's serviceable. Watch Bollywood if you're an uncultured white bastard like me to get a real taste of India!