Man Push Cart (2005) Reviews

• A haunting film that captures loneliness

  khemass2007-09-09

  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.

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• an independent triumph

  gsygsy2006-10-08

  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.

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• Impressive and strong portrayal of loneliness

  prosper-12005-12-15

  I saw the film at the festival Mannheim, and although I wanted to stay some minutes only to get a feeling for the film I eventually stayed until the end. The film has a captivating, almost entrancing rhythm, like a song, always coming back to the lonely refrain-image of the protagonist pushing his cart through NYC. To call it "sad" would be like calling "Taxi Driver" a sad film. Authentic is certainly more appropriate, maybe even wild. Not in matters of dynamics but in terms of consistency. No fear to show things as they are. In real life, people lose their loved ones and can't replace them, they don't kiss potential new loves although they probably should and they can't take care of other beings or give life to their own existence if they are merely a shell of their former self. And who can blame anyone for not doing something that seems to be so easy for one person but is very hard to achieve for somebody else? Brilliant photography and lyrical representations of loneliness in an overcrowded place.

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• Haunting, Sensual Mood Piece

  Cheetah-62007-11-02

  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.

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• NYC under a different light.....great interpretation!!

  alex-abagian2006-01-10

  I watched this movie at the London Film Festival and walked in, in fairness, without very high expectations....in the end these have turned out to be the best couple of hours i spent in front of a movie screen over the last few years. I very much agree with some of the comments which relate this movie to "taxi driver". As the scenes go by there is a growing sense of willingness to continue to fight and try to achieve a peaceful happiness in a restless society like NYC, where trying to establish yourself starting from the very bottom appears an impossible challenge. The movie with a catching simplicity puts the viewer in front of the other new york.....away from wall street success stories or thrilling NYC crime movies, it shows a different angle of the big apple...the story of those which have the strength to face poverty and loneliness with pride, honesty and great determination. I found amazing how the director has been able to express such density of feelings and meanings of life with almost no words and complex dialogues, but simply through a man pushing a cart and talking through his silence.....a fantastic interpretation!!!

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