We watched a pretty good movie this weekend – not the best I’ve ever seen, but good enough that it’s worth tracking down in your local video store (or, shudder, through NetFlix):  The Namesake, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri.  Directed by Mira Nair, the movie stars Kal Penn of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, who acts with depth and intelligence (which would have surprised me if I had only seen him in Harold & Kumar, but he does now also have that role on House). 

What I liked about this movie is its gentle perceptiveness as we follow this family over twenty-five or so years.  We don’t ever see Gogol going to Yale, nor do we see his father teaching a class; instead, we are presented with smaller moments of their lives, mixed in with some of the biggest moments – deaths, births, marriages.  Family interactions take center stage here, and once I got used to the slow pace of the movie, I was hooked.  And I love that the ending doesn’t fall prey to the common trap of tying everything up neatly for the viewer, but instead leaves the possibilities of the future wide open.  It’s a fine movie, one that stays with you; three stars from me.