The Namesake | Irfan Khan, Kal Penn | Why must I have the name of a lonely depressed suicidal...

The Namesake | Irfan Khan, Kal Penn | A beautiful story

DVDs:

The Namesake

	The Namesake Irfan Khan, Kal Penn 20th Century Fox, 2007 average customer review:based on 74 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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. System Requirements:Running Time: 114 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/AMERICANS ABROAD Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543456087 Manufacturer No: 2245608

Why must I have the name of a lonely depressed suicidal writer that nobody knows?

Another nice little movie by Mira Nair, based on a nice little novel, which was surprisingly successful in the US, about a Bengali immigrant family somewhere on the NE coast.
Everything is normal about the story: the marriage arranged by the parents, the small family life somewhere N of NY, the teaching career of the husband, an optical fibres scientist; the growth of the family: first a boy, then a girl; the death of parents at home in Calcutta; growing middle class wealth, kids growing up and alienating; mother with part time job in library and terribly lonely away from family and the real home. The new home never feels home. For the kids, the old home never feels home.
The title refers to a train accident that the father survived in India, before he went to the US and before he got married. He is reading the 'Overcoat' in a collected Gogol volume, when the crash happens. This leads later to the name Gogol for the baby boy, meant as a temporary one until the decision from Calcutta arrives, but it sticks. The boy first overrules his parents' wish to officialize Nikhil, as at that time he doesn't want to be Nicky, but keeps Gogol. Later, when fashions have changed, he has become the young architect called Nick, while the parents have switched to calling him Gogol rather than Nikhil.
Nothing dramatic outside the ordinary lives of immigrant families. A very nice movie, as usual from this director.
By the way, when Nabokov had immigrated to the US, one of his first English books was a monography on Gogol, not quite a biography. Must read it again and review it.

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A beautiful story

Namesake is a wonderful tale about starting a new section of your life in a different country and how with each new generation the culture of the family can change. It shows the importance of family.

Out of this World Exemplary!!!!

I was really impressed with Kal Penn's performance and in addition, the story line and the recurring theme of the picture. Well Done to the author and I'm looking forward to buying this book.

Beautiful Story, Delightful Movie

So many movies today follow the predictable cookie-cutter mold, it's refreshing to see a movie like The Namesake that stands apart from the bland/dumb humor/little plot productions.

The Namesake explores the life of an immigrant family in the 1970's U.S. Ashoke and Ashima are a young Indian couple living in New York, adjusting to their new life, and walking the line between a traditional Indian lifestyle and their new American one. The characters deal with raising children in a new culture, sickness, death, love, betrayal, loneliness, etc. Although The Namesake has its joyful moments, I think its focus is on the struggles and the hard decisions that go into living in a foreign country; parents making the sacrifice of leaving their home for the sake of their children, and watching their children absorb the foreign culture and grow up into people they no longer understand.

The Namesake has it all - touching story, superb performances by the whole cast, beautiful cinematography.

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Story about finding one's own cultural identity

I loved writer Jhumpa Lahiri's book "Interpreter of Maladies". Althought I have not read "Namesake" , I knew I wanted to see the film. I imagined from her previous work colorful characters, clothes and surroundings and sure enough, I was not disappointed. We meet a young man of Indian descent who is named Gogol, after famous Russian writer. That name seems to be a torment in his life, until one day he decides to change it, americanize it and convert even his Indian name Nikhil to Nick. Born and raised in the America to his Indian parents, he has difficulty trying to identify with his Indian ancestry. So, his girlfriend is blond American girl from a higher social status and we see Nick slowly pulling away from his family. It is only thru his father's death that Nick realizes who he is, what heritage really means to his family and him personally. Inevitably, that means the end of his life that until that moment he has known. And then again, it is Nick's marriage to Bengali woman he has known since his childhood that creates new conflicts in his life. Are the pressures of one's heritage such that one has to deny his/her true feelings toward a person of a different heritage? How much is the modern life on the western hemisphere influenced new generations in the ways they want to live their lives? I absolutely loved film's tenderness and its slow rhytm. I felt drawn to the characters and curious about their inner life. But then the best part of all is the film's ending that simply states "To our parents who sacrificed everything to give us what we have". That statement alone transcends this story from the begining to the end regardless of what culture we come from or are born into.

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