How Beautiful, How Disappointing

Directed by Indian-born Mira Nair and based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, "The Namesake" is about Gogol (Kal Penn), American-born son of immigrant parents from Calcutta, whose father has bestowed on him his unusual name (after the Russian author), and his family.

The story spans the parents’ meeting, the births of Gogol and his sister, and Gogol’s struggles to find the meaning of his name and establish his adult identity.

: I recently heard a film critic describe a movie, made from his own novel, as a "collection of pretty postcards from the book." That sums up my feelings about "The Namesake," also made from a book: Pretty postcards. Beautiful bore.

: I recently heard a film critic describe a movie, made from his own novel, as a "collection of pretty postcards from the book." That sums up my feelings about "The Namesake," also made from a book: Pretty postcards. Beautiful bore.

JH: It is beautiful, and I don’t think it would seem boring if not for the preview, which prepared us for a completely different movie. We were expecting a coming-of-age story, in which a crucial secret is dramatically revealed, enabling an immigrant’s son to understand his past and his destiny (or something like that). What we get is a gentle and rambling saga, in which the son’s self-discovery is only one element of a complex story of a family of immigrants making their way and establishing their various identities.

FB: I would not call it "complex." For the most part, it is ordinary "circle of life" stuff — birth, death, taxes (OK, no taxes, but lots of suburbia, which is almost as bad). My biggest problem is that nothing happens to create dramatic tension.

JH: But life doesn’t necessarily have a lot of dramatic moments when lessons are learned and one’s destiny changes. Like Nair’s other films, such as "Mississippi Masala," "The Namesake" shows all the ordinary moments, especially and most effectively the family rituals like weddings and funerals, that make up a life. I was moved by the stark contrast between their warm extended family, alive with color and texture, compared to the cold and lonely existence the family found in New York. FB: I’m willing to go with you partway on this; specifically for the first half hour or so, the story of Ashok (Irfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu), their meeting and her painful adjustment to American urban life, reeled me in on the strength of two lovely performances. But that sense of culture clash is not sustained through the story of Gogol. By then, everyone seems reasonably adjusted in suburbia, and by the time there is a death in the family, Gogol’s abrupt turn to traditionalism comes out of left field.

JH

: Yes, Khan and Tabu are wonderful, and their nuanced characters are different from the usual tradition-bound immigrant parents holding their children back. I would have liked more of the same subtlety and development in some of the secondary characters. Gogol’s sister Sonia (Sahira Nair) barely registers, and his waspy girlfriend Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) are irritatingly one-dimensional, and easily discardable foils. Nair and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala have tried to shoehorn an entire novel into two hours, and perhaps kept too many plot episodes at the expense of subtlety.

: Yes, Khan and Tabu are wonderful, and their nuanced characters are different from the usual tradition-bound immigrant parents holding their children back. I would have liked more of the same subtlety and development in some of the secondary characters. Gogol’s sister Sonia (Sahira Nair) barely registers, and his waspy girlfriend Maxine (Jacinda Barrett) are irritatingly one-dimensional, and easily discardable foils. Nair and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala have tried to shoehorn an entire novel into two hours, and perhaps kept too many plot episodes at the expense of subtlety.

FB: Worst of all is Gogol’s Bengali wife (Zuleikha Robinson), whose arrival on the scene takes us dangerously into soap opera territory. But you’ve basically nailed it: "The Namesake" is a lesson in the pitfalls of going from sweeping novel to feature film. See it for the performances (and beautiful faces), for the sights, smells, and textures, or if you like to wet a few handkerchiefs. Just don’t expect to come out fully satisfied in the end.

"The Namesake" is rated PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images, and brief language. It is playing at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck and is coming soon to The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY.