04-10-2007, 11:40 PM
I like Mira Nair's work. She captures India well. It's loving and quiet, not overblown like Bollywood. Her Calcutta footage was spectacular, but she bit off too much trying to capture the Taj Mahal. You can only get Taj by standing before it and watching the light pass over. Its true power eludes film. The film honored the book, but moved at light speed to cover everything. What was lost in inner dialog from the book, was compensated for with a solid soundtrack and great atmospheric shots of Calcutta and America.
Could Kal Penn be the next Sean Penn? From Kumar to Gogol, Kal shows remarkable range and pulls of the role well. Of course, I had him in mind as I read it, so perhaps it was fated. Ironically, in his first scene, he's smoking a joint.
The big discovery for dm was Tabu, who was far too beautiful for the role. I envisioned Ashima as much more dumpy, but Tabu gave her a grace that reminded me of a young Ingrid Bergman.
All in all, a very satisfactory rendition of the book. Nair took a few liberties for cinematic foreshadowing, but got an excellent cast and captured the spirit of the novel overall. If you engage one and like it, you should definitely check out the other.
Could Kal Penn be the next Sean Penn? From Kumar to Gogol, Kal shows remarkable range and pulls of the role well. Of course, I had him in mind as I read it, so perhaps it was fated. Ironically, in his first scene, he's smoking a joint.
The big discovery for dm was Tabu, who was far too beautiful for the role. I envisioned Ashima as much more dumpy, but Tabu gave her a grace that reminded me of a young Ingrid Bergman.
All in all, a very satisfactory rendition of the book. Nair took a few liberties for cinematic foreshadowing, but got an excellent cast and captured the spirit of the novel overall. If you engage one and like it, you should definitely check out the other.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse