rioplaydrum I liked the film, could definitely relate to the real life struggle, but had to grapple with the ending.The cinematography is somewhat overloaded with telescopic shots clearly illustrating the claustrophobic atmosphere of New York. I also found the close-in shots of the characters irritating. I wanted to see Ahmad's apartment, the building he lives in, why he doesn't even have a doorknob on his front door. Not just head-shots of him smoking cigarettes and listening to music.The plot was distinctive but ultimately depressing as Ahmad stumbles onto one disappoint after another, and some of it due to self-sabotage and carelessness.Poor Ahmad does not get to reclaim his former glory, loses what precious business he has, and doesn't get the girl.I'd only recommend this film after a really bad day.Because Ahmad has it worse than you.

kuchta-951-756726 The Film shows the boring life of the man push cart. He has no hope of changing his life. It is the same every day, repeating the same routine. He is unable to sort out his personal life because of his past. If something happens it ends as a disaster. The viewer of this movie is also waiting that something happens and that is the only suspense. The film is a bit boring. I suppose that is what the film director intends to convey. Viewing the movie is as boring as the life of Ahmad (the man push cart). The film ends as uneventful as it begins. The viewer (if he sees the film to the end) will think that he is lucky that his life ids different. I cannot recommend the film.

MisterWhiplash It's an interesting thing to watch a director's early-career chronology out of order. I saw Chop Shop, a film Ramin Bahrani made a couple of years ago about orphans living in a wasteland of mechanics and car repairs, and loved its realistic look and feel and its touching story told through non-professional actors playing characters in risky and dire circumstances. His previous film- his debut- Man Push Cart, also has a realistic viewpoint, a sense of artistry with its cinematography but not so much as to lose the no-melodrama sense of its character in the world and what (little) happens with/to him. I was perhaps expecting a similar grim intensity, when it's really more observant, less about giving its character Ahmad drama to face when he really has enough behind him that he just has to push that cart. Sometimes doing the daily grind is enough to wear one's spirits down to a nub. Maybe that's what it's 'about'.It's the simple saga of Ahmad, a Pakistani working at a food cart who we see continually, every early morning, push it around in order to sell food (bagels, coffee), and make friendships with another man, Mohammad, who recognizes Ahmad from his previous life in his native country as a singer, and Noemi, a Spanish girl who works at the newsstand. What makes Man Push Cart fascinating- if also quite depressing- is that it's protagonist is just a decent guy who has been dealt with some bad luck in his life (bad meaning loss of his early career, unable to see his son, and a dead wife), and a quiet reluctance to enter back into what he did before when asked by his new friend Mohammad who, as he says, "has connections". There's under-the-surface pain that the actor Ahmad Razvi conveys without having to force it. But we know there is pain, and heartbreak, and a desire to just make his meager living and go along with it.So what happens in the film? Not much, really, which may frustrate some viewers even when it is shot tastefully on the dark streets and under-lit bars and acted with some talent. Well, there is a sort of story in Ahmad bringing a little happiness in his life with a stray kitten, which is something joyous and saddening. There is also the not-quite relationship between him and Noemi, where they simply enjoy each others company without saying to each other too soon why they aren't closer (then again, Ahmad mentions part of his backstory, and Noemi knows right away). But a lot of the film is just about the nature of observing a life being lived, one not extraordinary but not too boring. It's not quite at the level of a 'neorealist' effort like Chop Shop, and yet I wouldn't put it past anyone making the comparison. Sometimes we watch movies to escape in fantasy lives and archetypes. Other times, if necessary, we can watch in curiosity and sad awe at an existence like Ahmad's. It's a touching little film.

Lydia Storie Man Push Cart opens with almost ten minutes of visual sequence without dialogue. Perhaps the remaining 80 minutes of film would have been better if they followed suit.Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani's story of a Pakistani immigrant who spends his days in New York City selling coffee and pastries from a sidewalk cart starts off with what seems to be a promising look at the life of one of those individuals the rest of the city takes for granted. Operating in relative silence for several scenes, the film casts a documentary-like eye on the routine minutiae that fills protagonist Ahmad's (Ahmad Razvi) life as a street vendor. Immediately, the repetition of similarly structured morning scenes allows the viewer understands the tedium Ahmad faces early each day as he prepares his cart for his customers, with whom he makes the typically asinine small talk that amounts to the only form of human interaction he has on a regular basis.As painful as these forced encounters are to watch on screen, the dialogue that occurs later within Ahmad's "real" interactions proves brutal to the audience's filmic, rather than emotional, sensibilities. As for the film's narrative, poorly written dialogue paired with poorly performed discourses leads to what could arguably be termed the cinematic crash of Bahrani's metaphorical push cart.With two previous films—Backgammon (1998) and Strangers (2000)—under his writer/director belt, Bahrani should realize by now that a compelling idea does not automatically translate into a compelling film. Unnatural dialogue has a way of undermining even the most promising character's potential. So do unbelievable events.Man Push Cart begins its long decline when Ahmad strikes up an unusual friendship with new customer and fellow displaced Pakistani Mohammed (Charles Daniel Sandoval). Presumably out of a sense of cultural hospitality, the financially well-off Mohammed offers Ahmad a night job as his personal maintenance man before recognizing Ahmad as a former Pakistani rock star and pop icon. Naturally, Mohammed is curious as to why one of his teenage Pakistani idols now works as a street vendor in America—just like the audience. Apparently Ahmad offers a suitable answer to this query during an off-screen chat over a few beers, but the audience is left to ponder the reasons for Ahmad's strange displacement indefinitely.Bahrani's poorly structured narrative consistently alludes to the contrast between Ahmad's former life and his present condition without ever explaining what exactly happened to drive him from fame to a push cart. Ever vague, the film suggests that Ahmad's transformation from artist to vendor had something to do with his wife, who is now mysteriously deceased. This question, too, rests heavily over much of the film, particularly as Ahmad ponders over his feelings for a fellow street vendor, Noemi (Leticia Dolera). However, the most nagging uncertainty that runs throughout the second half of Man Push Cart is why a successful and well-connected businessman like Mohammed would want to steal Noemi from Ahmad, when he clearly has the power to pick up many a city socialite.Such an improbable set of circumstances may be forgivable in a narrative that ultimately delivers on its intended purpose, but Man Push Cart evolves into such a mess of far-fetched situations, affected narrative style, and unconvincing performances that the promising story of Ahmad-the-street-vendor gets lost in the muck of unrealistic love triangles and unanswered questions. Assuming that Bahrani was attempting to relate the tale of one man's struggle against a harsh and indifferent world, it is fair to say that his point would have been better made if he ended the film about ten minutes after he began.This review was first posted on www.cinemattraction.com