Ramin Bahrani writes and directs "Man Push Cart", the story of Ahmad Razvi, a young Pakistani-American street vendor who wakes up at 3am every morning to collect his thousand pound steel cart and drag it to a sales point in Manhattan. From this cart, Ahmad sells coffee, tea, muffins and bagels, though on the side he also sells bootlegged DVDs.The film is a modern day Sisyphus tale, Ahmad, like a figure torn from the annals of Greek mythology, condemned to a life of endless and futile labour. When he's not chained to his cart, heaving its massive bulk through the busy streets of New York, Ahmad tends to an abandoned kitten, longs to see his son (who hardly remembers him and who lives with his maternal grandparents), mourns the death of his wife and frets over not being able to instigate a romantic relationship, let alone communicate, with a beautiful Spanish girl who works at a newsstand.There are shades of early De Sisca, Visconti and Rossellini, "Man Push Cart" playing like a scrumptiously digital take on early neorealist films. Beyond this the film works well on at least three other levels, Bahrani serving up an affective tone-poem, and doing well to sustain an ambiance of affective despair. Precisely because he leaves out all references to the dangers that have dogged American Muslims and immigrants post 9/11, the film also has a certain political force, shining light on human faces many are quick to dismiss or deem alien. Mostly, though, the film works well as an exercise in existential minimalism. Ahmad's struggles are human and universal. Comparisons to Robert Bresson are therefore apt, though unlike Bresson's films, the absurdity, cruelty even, of Ahmad's travails never quite gets under your skin.8/10 – Though an excellent film, this is a slight, one note movie, which perhaps overly romanticises its cast and its eye-popping city lights. See "Wendy and Lucy" and "Land of Plenty". Worth one viewing.

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.

I watched this debut film of Ramin Bahrani at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. It's a very minimal approach to film-making. There is good composition of the many pre-dawn scenes of Ahmad pushing his cart to its location in mid-town Manhattan. The bleak scenery of dark, low-lit streets, garbage trucks, buses and the constant noise of the city mirror Ahmad's internal landscape. We get some small pieces of his story, but it's very incomplete. We don't know why he doesn't try to regain the success he had in his home country, nor why he sabotages efforts by others to help him. How does the girl fit in? My expectation for a movie still remains that I need to be told a story, care about the characters or be wowed by technique. This was like reading the middle four chapters of a depressing book. I have friends who loved this movie because it lacked those elements which I find essential in film. For me, the movie could have been a twelve-minute short, repeated as many times as you find personally satisfying. I did very much enjoy Bahrani's 3rd film, "Goodbye Solo", where the story is still minimal but the characters are extremely well developed. It's worth watching "Man Push Cart" just to see how well Bahrani's core views are being honed in later movies.

Watching a movie without a real plot can be difficult for me sometimes, but not with "Man Push Cart". I think this film is an art. It gives us a chance to look closer into a life of a seller on the street, to absorb his experience, and feel his deep loneliness.I don't know how the director did it, but these small details of a man's life: daily conversations with customers, pulling a heavy cart alone on the street of a big city, taking a kitten home and trying to keep her in a little box, etc. can communicate so much. Ahmad's deeply sad eyes and humble personality make me feel sorry for him, especially when you see him broken-heart because of love and friendship found and lost. The character is so real. I feel like I get a chance to know him. This movie doesn't have much of a plot but it does have a point and can inspire good things in the viewer. Some thoughts stay with me after the movie was over. Small greeting or simple kindness, even from strangers, can mean so much to a person. There are people living around us who have much more difficult life and if we can look a little closer and care a little more, this world can be a better place.After seeing Ahmad pushing his cart and living his life, I feel that the difficulty in my life is trivial comparing to many people on earth. After I finish watching the movie, I went back to my work without complaining how boring or tiring it was.