REVIEW ROUNDUP: Mira Nair's The Namesake

[UPDATE, 3/11/2007: See opening weekend box office numbers.]

"The Namesake," Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, has a limited release today (NYC, LA, SF, Toronto; opens next Friday in Boston, Chicago, DC, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, etc), but judging by the initial reviews (including 22 positive reviews from critics out of 28 at RottenTomatoes.com), it's got a good chance of filling those seats. And Kal Penn has consistently landed powerful reviews for his lead performance (as have some of the other actors). The movie is, as of, 9 am today, the third most-searched-for film on NYTimes.com and ads are running in major newspapers and there are even some TV spots.

We are going to keep track of the various reviews in the U.S. press, so check back often. See a trailer here and find out when it releases near you here. And see the first SAJAforum review from November 2006 by a non-movie critic (with lots of links to resources about movie and book, including movie reviews by the ethnic press, which saw the film much earlier than most mainstreamers). What do you think of the movie? Post your comments below.

Entertainment Weekly raves:

"...yet watching The Namesake, her moving and marvelous new cross-cultural family saga, I was struck by the nearly sculptural skill with which she expresses that spirit — her arrangement, for instance, of people in a suburban kitchen, so that their intimacy is offset by the way they stare into their cereal bowls, or how a father's love for his son is conveyed powerfully by his devout refusal to say it.

It's one of those adaptations that's so sprawling and episodic and crammed with incident that, at times, you may wish you were reading the novel.

Variety is just as moved by the movie:

In the capable hands of director Mira Nair (bouncing back from the critically and commercially disappointing "Vanity Fair"), Jhumpa Lahiri's wildly popular novel about two generations of a Bengali family receives a loving, deeply felt screen translation that should appease fans of the book while making many new converts.

On its theme of culture-clash, Variety has this to say:

If that conflict isn't exactly new in cinema, it's nevertheless rendered by "The Namesake" with a sensitivity and emotional resonance that elude most films on the subject of cultural assimilation. That's largely thanks to the delicate balance Nair and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala strike between the story's two generational threads, so that Ashima and Ashoke remain significant presences in the second half, even after the primary focus shifts to Nick/Gogol.

The Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern talks about the family connection in his review, "Namesake is a Richly-Spiced Immigrant Drama -- An Endearing, Wry Tale of an Indian Family in the U.S.":

My experience with this family was a reminder of how affecting Mira Nair's work can be. The first time I saw her lovely new film was almost six months ago, at the Telluride Film Festival. Since I hadn't taken notes at that viewing, I saw it a second time a few weeks ago. Once again in the company of characters I'd cared deeply about, I caught myself feeling, irrationally but persistently, that I could predict the Gangulis' future, with all the anxiety and satisfaction that such a gift implies.

The review is behind the WSJ firewall, so here's the ending para:

The story of how a very Bengali couple's son came to be the namesake of a quintessentially Russian writer is the narrative that informs the family's life, in America and Calcutta alike. (The film, which was scored by Nitin Sawhney and photographed dazzlingly by Frederick Elmes, plays out in both places.) The role of Gogol is therefore crucial, and Kal Penn (of "Harold and Kumar" fame) fills it with a charming goofiness -- the teenage Gogol is a soul mate of Winona Ryder's droll depressive in "Beetlejuice" -- that eventually yields to endearing manhood. Gogol's adventures as the semi-self-invented Nick give "The Namesake" its generational sweep (Jacinda Barrett and Zuleikha Robinson play two of his girlfriends), and his rejection of his heritage constitutes half of the classic template of immigrant sagas. The other half -- reclaiming his heritage when he's wise enough to do so -- brings him to appreciate the parents he's been blessed with. On that score we've been way ahead of him.

The New York Times also has a positive, if not quite rave review (it is marked a "Critic's Pick" on NYTimes.com):

The Namesake, adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than their words might indicate. The story of upwardly mobile immigrants torn between tradition and modernity as they are absorbed into the American melting pot has been told in countless movies.

This variation is gentle and compassionate. The longing for roots of these displaced middle-class Indians lends a soulful undertow to a film conspicuously lacking in melodrama.

Its steady, unhurried pace, its fascination with the rituals of daily life and its deep respect for characters who are continually evolving lift The Namesake above high-end soap opera. It may lack epic grandeur, but by the end you feel you know these people well enough to keep in step with their internal rhythms.

In the Los Angeles Times, Dennis Lim says the movie brings Lahiri's novel "to the screen with intimacy and touching insight."

Despite being rooted in knotty issues of identity, Lahiri's novel forgoes didacticism in favor of vivid portraiture. Nair and her uniformly superb cast take the same tack: The characters are individuals before they are emblems.

On Penn, Entertainment Weekly has much to say:

It was bold of Nair to cast Penn, the deadpan comic star of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, in the complex role of Gogol, whose love-hate, push-pull relationship with his heritage forms the spiritual core of the story. Penn turns out to be a fantastic actor. His sexy, cool surface works for the film — Gogol is a Bengali American who knows, righteously, that he's as homegrown as Mickey Mantle — yet Penn's eyes are full of fury and desire, and they mirror the film's primal question: In a country where we can invent ourselves anew, how does family define us?

Penn plays Gogol as a thicket of warring impulses. He's inspired to be an architect by a visit to the Taj Mahal, yet back in America, he declares his independence by falling for a wealthy blue-blood princess (Jacinda Barrett). Just as the audience is sure that it's in for the sort of cross-cultural clash that has defined every ethnic-romantic saga from Fiddler on the Roof to Monsoon Wedding, it's Gogol, spurred by tragedy, who decides to ''stick with his own kind,'' only to learn that even that's not as easy as he thinks. Penn, who has a gift for letting feelings burn through his skin, shows you the conflicts roiling around inside him, and Khan and Tabu, both superstars of Bollywood, turn his parents into figures of touchingly diffident devotion.

What do you think of the movie? Post your comments below.

Comments

[Irfan Modi]

I think its great that the mainstream US press is giving such good reviews to this film. But I have somewhat of a problem with SAJA and others giving such attention to this coverage and not recognizing the positive coverage that is being given by the South Asian press. I mean its great to recognize positive coverage of South Asians or anything relating to South Asians by the mainstream, but what about the Desi press reviews? Are they not important? or do they not matter anymore? I have been seeing this more and more lately.

Its great to highlight and bring attention to the amount of press that the US media is giving to this, but in doing so, you are marginalizing and taking away from the impact of the South Asian press. In addition, you are further diluting the already thin connection the second and third generation South Asians have with South Asian media.

I would implore SAJA and others to also recognize the press coverage being given to this by desi media, let's continue to promote and support our media as well. I know its a dream come true for mainstream US press to cover "desi" things, but let's not stop recognizing our press.

[Sree Sreenivasan]

Irfan: We absolutely do care about the ethnic press. In fact, the very first reviews we posted to SAJAforum were ALL from the ethnic press, which covers such films months before the mainstreame media - see http://www.sajaforum.org/2006/11/films_watching_.html

On the opening day of the movie in the U.S. it's critical, so to speak, to see the reviews by the full-time movie critics in U.S. dailies (alas, none are desis - yet).

By the way, I love your name's "Namesake" connections. Irfan - as in Irrfan Khan, one of the actors; and Modi, as is Kalpen Modi, Kal Penn's real name...

[Aruuuuuuuun]

Irfan,
Having worked in the ethnic press, I know where you're coming from. Which is why we've run guest posts from reporters who write for India West, India Abroad/Rediff, etc.

Check out Lisa Tsering's SAJAforum column on the Indian response to Deepa Mehta's Oscar nomination:
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/02/film_deepa_meht.html

And see another piece of hers, from IW, that we ran, on M. Night Shyamalan and the Razzies:
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/02/film_four_razzi.html

We've also run a mini-column by Aseem Chhabra, who frequently writes for Mumbai Mirror and Rediff and others, in addition to mainstream pubs:
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/02/tv_hbos_rome_ch.html

If you (or anyone else) sees a good piece in the desi press, let us know. With these Review Roundups we're doing, we'll try to include reviews from the desi press but when we miss out, feel free to include in the Comments section.

Regards,
Arun

[Filmiholic]

Irfan, SAJAers,

India Abroad has devoted most of the magazine section of its March 9 issue to The Namesake, including some terrific articles and interviews by Arthur Pais and a lovely column by Aseem Chhabra on why desis should see the film.

(Ok, full disclosure, I freelance for IA, but that's not why I'm mentioning this, rather, just because I think it's great to see such blanket coverage of the film, which I loved.)

[V. D'Souza]

The European press is largely ignoring this film because, and this is just my assumption, it portrays the U.S. and India in too positive a light. This is far too much for their political/societal/cultural tastes, which are chronically snobbish.

[Jaya Kamlani]

V. D'Souza,
On the other hand, is it possible that Europeans would rather read books by Indian authors than see a movie with an Indian backdrop? We had Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh and Kiran Desai receive British & German (Ghosh) literary awards.

As a writer myself, I tend to read books rather than see movies. I read Jhumpa Lahiri's "Namesake" book as soon as it made its debut, as I did "Water," as well as Amitav Ghosh's "Glass Palace" and Arundhati Roy's "God of small things." I have Kiran Desai's book sitting on my desk. When I have some time I will get to it. I belong to various literary clubs and book review clubs. One thing I noticed of all my literary European/American friends is that they love to read books or attend author's lectures or literary events, but seldom watch movies. They will go to an opera or a play rather than see a movie.

Last night I attended Dave Eggers's lecture on his new book at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. Margaret Mitchell is the one who wrote "Gone with the Wind" many decades ago. In the afternoon I attended the Jane Austen's Book Club meeting. In the last three days, I have been very busy attending literary events or meetings, but I have NOT watched a movie for a very long time.

So there could be another reason why the European media is not covering this movie. Now if it were Zubin Mehta's philharmonic musical performance, you would see more European reviews. If it was a movie about war, they may have given it a lot of coverage. Europeans are artsy folks, so a movie has to appeal to their taste which is very different from that of the Indians.

Jaya Kamlani

[V. D'Souza]

Jaya, you just proved my point. Thanks! BTW, do you consider soocer hooligans and Nazis as artsy? Oh, well the Nazis did steal a great deal of art....

[V. D'Souza]

Oh, and one more thing, if Europeans are "artsy folks," as you contend (ironcially, a stereotype driven by the mass media which you claim you are too above to notice), then why does the U.S. have more museusm, oprah houses, theaters, ballets, and universities than all of Europe?