Man Push Cart

Moving with a slow even rhythm, this film portrays a man's struggle to get by as an immigrant to the U.S. from Pakistan. His life centers on his work as a street vendor who must pull his cart to a New York city street corner every morning and sell coffee and such to the busy urban customers. The cart, like his troubles in life are quite allot for him to keep under control as he makes his way through the crowded NYC landscape. What makes the film work so well is the overall atmosphere and style in which it was shot. Ahmad is a reticent soul and much is expressed in his eyes and demeanor, his world is urban and dark, the vast majority of this film is at night and Ahmad seems to be living in a nighttime existence. There's a feeling of confinement and being trapped as well. Even when Ahmed loses his cart it seems there is no place to go to look for it. The relationship that develops with a woman that he meets who also works as a street vendor is tentative and cautionary in its process but also intriguing and sensual. The film is non manipulative and non judgmental, it's an outsider's gaze into one man's lonely isolated existence far from his past and former self.

Accurate moviewatching can give you such strong pleasure that, if rightly chosen, the selected film can feed your mind for weeks.

On the other hand, if your choice fails, even thoroughly prepared by selecting critics and seeing previews, the frustration is so high that your first thought is never again a moviewatching, and how can the producer be punished!!

Well, none of this will happen seeeing "Man push Cart"! You are immediately seized by the deeply melancolic poetry of New Yorks' dark street through the night. You strongly feel the solitude and the constant sweetness of the hero, who seems totally submitted to fate whenever it hits him. Is it weakness , or is he very wise? The film, without naming them, speaks of all our present troubles: loss of social, religious and emotional identity> you will carry its delicate atmosphere and all the questions aroused for a long time.

Man Push Cart is a gem of independent film making. It is a beautiful, haunting portrayal of one man's life in an alien city. A thriving metropolis like New York is home to a myriad of stories. In the course of our daily lives, we only scratch the surfaces of many of these. This film delves deeper into one of them - the story of Ahmad, an immigrant bagel cart worker. There is some optimism, but equally, much disappointment. Moments of happiness, and many of sadness. Hollywood demands that the hero gets the girl, achieves success, and all is resolved in a "happy ending". This film is unashamedly and refreshingly un-Hollywood, and Ahmad's ultimate fulfilment is by no means guaranteed. Nevertheless, like Sisyphus, he will persevere. When the cameras stop rolling, and we leave the cinema, he will continue. It is this, together with superb lead actor Ahmad Razvi's own personal experiences as a push cart vendor, that make this film so convincing and compelling.

This is a film that stays with you. For those of us who live in large cities, this film is a moving insight into the world that goes on all around us, a world that we skim past every day and quickly forget. Man Push Cart is a sympathetic, but not sentimental, snapshot of this world, and one that is well worth experiencing.

Reaching out with meaning far beyond its melancholy central story, this is an excellent film. It is, in simple terms, the tale of Ahmed, former rock star from Pakistan who finds himself, by way of domestic misfortune, pushing his coffee-and-donuts cart through the streets of NYC to make a living. Opportunities to escape his lonely lot come his way. Will he/won't he take them? But it's more than that: it's a story of the gulf between rich and poor; of the sensitive and the brutish; the pecking order of immigrants in the so-called Melting Pot; and of course the position in particular of Muslim immigrants post 9/11. In the end, Ahmed's cart becomes a symbol of the burdens that we give ourselves, that we don't know how to let go of, even when the chance comes to do so. It's beautifully photographed, superbly acted. A true independent.

And it's New York's loss, not his.

Saw this film this afternoon at Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. The lead actor, Ahmad Razvi, is not a professional actor, but he holds his own very well. He told the audience after the screening that he had pushed a cart, briefly, but was self-employed when he was discovered by the director behind the counter of his own restaurant. However, in my opinion this is the director's, Ramin Bahrani, and cinematographer's, a guy named Simmons, film.

There is very little plot. It is about shining a light onto the life of one of the street vendors you can buy from in many of our larger cities, and never really think about. He has a story. Some people will be bored with it, but most of the more insightful audience members will never forget what they're so convincingly exposed to here.

This is Bahrani's first film, I believe, and it's certainly an indication of great things to come. He's taken the legend of Sisyphus in this his first outing and transformed it into something we can all relate to. And it's something we need to relate to given our current distrust of Muslims, ex-rock star or not. Somehow, though, I doubt that many working at Homeland Security are likely to see it.