The Namesake

On Friday, I went to see The Namesake (yeah, check out that 84% rating!). "A river runs through it", having enjoyed an almost ten-year stint as my official "favorite movie of all time", has now been demoted to second place and The Namesake moved to first. I pretty much cried all the way through it. So did a lot of other people in the theater. I not only cried in the movie, I cried AFTER the movie, too. That was a new experience. From a completely objective perspective, there were some problems:
1. Kal Penn - not that hot.
2. Too much mixing of seasons - come on guys, please do not have red maple leaves juxtaposed with cherry blossoms.
3. Set in NY rather than MA
4. No special hat bought for Moushumi.
5. The actress who played Sonia did not look at all like the rest of the family and didn't look very Bengali at all.

Things I liked:
1. The dual train wreck scenes where the second completes the first.
2. The common theme of images shown whenever someone was traveling.
3. The authenticity of Gogol's feelings.
4. All the Indian friends of the family.
5. The head-shaving scene
6. The dual scenes in which Ashok takes Gogol out on the pier, the second completing the first.
7. The effective awkwardness of Gogol as a teenager.
8. The magic turning point at the Taj Mahal where he seems to grow up.
9. The actress who played Ashima was FANTASTIC - Tabu.
10. I loved the scene in which Ashok finally explains Gogol's name.
11. The cinematography was awesome.

All in all, I loved it, and I plan to buy it as soon as it comes out on DVD (along with my new favorite chick flick - Catch and Release).