As Lemming alluded in his review, the title of this entry is the best line of the film The Namesake. (Technically, he only alluded to the fact that I think the line is awesome, but the stronger statement holds in spades. This is the second time in a row that Lemming and I have agreed on the best line of a film and also the second time in a row that that line was the best by a large margin.) It was awesome the first time it was used and it became progressively more awesome in subsequent uses/references.
Lemming's review pretty much echoes my opinion of the film, though let me state explicitly that I too was expecting a good film but found a great one. I did find the beginning to be a bit slow (which I think differs a bit from Lemming's view) and while I would recommend the film to all adults, I'm not sure if most children would enjoy the film. I don't think I would have appreciated this film when I was a child and I expect that would be true of many children.
As Lemming points out, there are both very funny and very sad moments in the film. It's listen on IMDB as a comedy first but it's really a "dramedy." I was tearing a little bit at a couple of points in the film, and that's not too common to me. I also laughed out out on several occasions.
A very important component of the film are the experiences of first-generation and second-generation immigrants. I am a second-generation immigrant (is that the right term?), and while I doubt my father's experiences were much like the ones from the film (his brothers and parents immigrated with him, which is very different from the film), it is true that in his heart the US is a distant third to two other countries and that that perspective was made obvious to my siblings and me when we were growing up. Also, as an academic, I've had the chance to meet a lot of people who just moved to this country (and I'll be making a move of my own like that, though mine will be a far easier one) and also know a bunch of people from who moved here at various nontrivial, and I can definitely sympathize with these sorts of issues and trying to preserve some of the old amidst the new.
The film also explores a couple of significant relationships -- between parent and child (especially via first- versus second-generation immigrants) and (in one main case and, to a lesser extent, in a couple of others) between lovers.
It was a very deep, moving, and often-funny film. Go see it!
Sweet - now I know I'm not the only one who loved that movie. I was going to review it on my blog, but figured I'd keep things science-only over there. For me, the movie was like the story of my life... you know the dad? Well, that was my dad (mannerisms, speech and all!); the mom was my mom; and Gogol was pretty much me (all +/- a few details, of course). Heck, we're of Bengali origin too. It's interesting to know that the movie resonated with other people, too: I was wondering to what extent I was biased towards liking the movie because of the whole this-is-the-story-of-my-life thing, and whether or not other people thought it was just as good. I only wish it had gotten more publicity (I'd read the book before, so I jumped when I heard about it; but I'm not sure I would have done so otherwise).
ReplyDeleteI have never read the book. I saw a trailer for the film when watching The History Boys, so that's why I knew about it. (Also, I tend to watch a lot of the limited-release films anyway and I specifically keep my eye out for potentially interesting ones.)
ReplyDeleteCertainly, you can draw on personal experience for this in a way I can't, but there's definitely a lot of stuff in the film that transcends specific backgrounds and experiences. The idea of blending cultures and finding a good balance is a powerful one in general and one that I have discussed with some of my friends (who have had to deal with this) on a few occasions. It is true there are specific things your background allows you to appreciate more (as it should), but there are some very universal/important ideas in the film and they were extremely well-presented (on multiple levels), which is why I found the film meaningful.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but would like to... I heard a review with Mira Nair, the director, on Fresh Air a couple of weeks ago. You can hear that interview at this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7728772