The Namesake (2006)

Last night I began watching Michael Antonioni's Blow-Up. I had been trying to watch this film for some time, but after the jeep full of mime's drove through the frame in the first five minutes, my wife switched us over to The Namesake, featuring Kal Penn. The film follows the development of a Bengali family living in United States. In a way, as a story of a first generation American, it was somewhat reminiscent of Zadie Smith's debut novel White Teeth. However, unlike the Samad, the father in Smith's novel, who is constantly struggling against life in his adopted country (England), Irrfan Khan gives Ashoke, the Nikolai Gogal loving physicist, a quiet strength and perpetual sense of wonder at the possbilities offered by America. Kal Penn demonstrates the serious side of his craft playing the first generation trying to weigh two cultures, but it is Khan who's presence lingers with us long after the film is over.