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the namesake movie review: no and yes.
Simply: go see it. It’s good.
The book version of The Namesake is an all-time favorite. When I first discovered it years ago, I stayed up all night and read the book cover to cover. I was tired the next day, but energized and moved by what I had just read. The book had this depth and such amazing soul to it. With every passing page, I learned so much about the characters. I identified with their struggles and their frailties. It was amazing.
The movie, The Namesake, is a very good movie. I recommend anyone who still hasn’t seen the movie, but plans on it, to not in any way compare the book to the movie. The movie while quite good, lacks much of the depth, character and nuance that make the book stunning. But the movie is still quite entertaining and quite moving. (thanks to my Blink 182 buddyAndy for inadvertently helping me figure out the movie finally opened in cincy!)
But still go see it!
2 comments to the namesake movie review: no and yes.
— 05/11/07 at 11:29 am
and in a way..u look like karl penn
— 08/03/07 at 10:52 pm
I finally watched the movie. and twice at that. It had a lot of layers and was complex so it took me two views to really grasp it completely. This is really one of the best movies made about the Indian immigrant experience. Certainly a great deal more than a lot of Desi films have. Just the cinematography was great, like when Kal Penn’s mother first arrives in America, that dismal white on grey and a seeming emptiness compared to the bustling streets of Calcutta. Also that laundromat scene where that vicious looking man throws the shirt he is wearing into the machine, that scene seemed to look through the eyes of someone freshly arrived in this country and the apprehension involved. The relationship with the white american girl was also not overblown and full of stereotypes, but did include some cultural conflict albeit subtely like when his girlfriend calls his parents by their first names and kisses the father on the cheek and the mother’s reaction. Just a great movie. You’ve lauded the book, maybe I’ll pick up a copy. Man, it really makes you think about your parents and all that they’ve done to provide a good life. Just like the statement, “we all came out of gogol’s overcoat”, our parents have given us everything.
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