Misstropolis

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

The Namesake

by Tom Meek

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Even in her minor stumbles, Vanity Fair and Kama Sutra, filmmaker Mira Nair’s signature lush style remains. In her more accomplished works, Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala and most pointedly, Monsoon Wedding, Nair does not allow her visual artistry to claim center stage, but instead applies it as a bright polish to illuminate the soul of the film.

This characteristic of past work reveals an intriguing dichotomy in her latest film, The Namesake. In the portions of the film set on Indian soil, the film resonates in rich, vibrant hues; but in New York where a young Bengali couple has recently immigrated, the surroundings are muted and solid - grays, browns and whites rather than the vivid colors of India. 

This drab palate echoes the mood of Ashima (Tabu), recently transplanted to New York and homesick. She’s been forced into an arranged marriage with Ashoke (Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan), a state-side doctoral student. Ashima’s sadness is moving and complicated; but the film does not settle on her story. The Namesake, adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s popular novel by screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala (with whom Nair has worked for years) spans generations and cultures.

The focus shifts to Ashima’s son Gogol, seventeen years later. He’s the object of the title, named by his father after the Russian writer; and he is stubbornly unable to relate to his parents’ traditional heritage and cultural leanings. Gogol pushes the matter when he gets serious with a blonde socialite (Jacinda Barrett) whose parents own a weekend estate in Oyster Bay.

Probably the most shocking thing about The Namesake is the casting of Kal Penn as Gogol. Penn has made a career out of the kind of scatological Revenge of the Nerds misadventures that have killed many a career. If you have no idea who he is, pick up a copy of Harold and Kumar or either of the Van Wilder inanities, and you’ll know what I mean. Though Penn’s range is surprisingly impressive, his portrayal of Gogol’s dour mood throughout the film comes across as more self-interested than heartfelt.

The Namesake may be ambitious in scope, but the script does little to put a mark of distinction on the universal story of immigrants seeking opportunity and a better life in a new world. The performances by Khan and Tabu have a certain resonance, but the film isn’t driven by character, it’s propelled by clichéd plot points. The Namesake leaves the viewer drifting, because it has no mooring. Nair’s direction is as ambitious as ever, packing an epic into two hours. But the toggling focus from Ashima to Gogol and back is awkward at best, lurching at its worst.

Mira Nair, who studied filmmaking at Harvard in the late seventies, started off making documentaries on the streets of Delhi before turning to feature films. She has boldly turned her lens on issues of India, America and women to great acclaim, and she was the subject of a career retrospective at the Harvard Film Archive in 2003.

So, The Namesake is a letdown that hits close to home. Like the promised, deeper explanation for why Gogol’s father named him such, the expectation hangs heavy. When the payoff comes, it feels like a Starbuck’s gift card wrapped in a Tiffany’s box. Thank goodness there’s always next time.

The Namesake official site: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/site/thenamesake/
imdb: http://imdb.com/title/tt0433416/