The Namesake
It’s the rare movie that makes me want to read the book it was based on. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was one of them. So was Little Children.
And The Namesake may be another. It’s the work of Pulitzer Prize winning writer Jhumpa Lahiri (she won for debut collection of short stories).
Mira Nair is a fantastic director who has done a variety of interesting work. The notable ones are Salaam Bombay, a gritty look at the slums of Bombay way before City of God did it for Brazil, and Monsoon Wedding, a loving portrait of an Indian family preparing for a wedding. Stylistically, Namesake is closer to Monsoon’s near romantic-comedy leanings. And it’s just as good in covering the hopes, fears, good times, and disappointments in creating a family.
And Nair has a flair for getting great scores. The Namesake features the lush work of Indian composer Nitin Sawhney. But earlier, she got two amazing ones from Mychael Danna who did Monsoon Wedding as well as Vanity Fair, Nair’s misfire English costume drama. And Indian music plays a role here as the mother character is actually a trained singer, which leads to some lovely scenes of Indian singing lessons.
And for those who didn’t think he could do it, Kal Penn works as a leading man.
