Man Push Cart Blu-ray Criterion Collection Review
Mathew Plale
June 16th, 2021
Every morning he stocks and lugs his vendor cart onto the streets of Manhattan. It’s as dark as Midtown street lights will allow, the streets as empty as an avenue would get, which is not very. He sells what most of these metal carts do: coffee, bagels, muffins, water. After the long day, he goes back to Brooklyn, completing the two-hour daily commute. It’s nothing like what he had back in Pakistan.
In his native country, Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi) was a rock star. He has come to the States to make a living, chiefly for himself since his wife is dead and he is forbidden from seeing his only son. He is friendly with his customers and some other bodega owners, but he is primarily alone in the city.
MAN PUSH CART is director Ramin Bahrani’s first feature. (His next films, 2007’s CHOP SHOP and 2008’s GOODBYE SOLO helped solidify him as one of the finest filmmakers to come out of the second half of the decade. His most recent, THE WHITE TIGER, is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.) This debut has just brought comparisons to Italian Neorealism, with shades of Robert Bresson and Vittoria De Sica clear throughout (there is a devastating moment that calls to mind BICYCLE THIEVES). It feels real, due in part because Bahrani seeks authenticity in the performances and characters. (He shot the film in three weeks, allowing for simple shots that lend to the tone of the film.) Lead Razvi is also so natural, delivering a wholly dimensional performance through minimal but passionate means.
The story looks at the immigrant experience with genuine empathy. This is a portion of the struggle but it represents so much–the stranglehold, determination, the outcasting, the limited camaraderie. Here is a man who must survive in a society that doesn’t look like him, doesn’t act like him, doesn’t have to know him. It is a sometimes heartbreaking look at a part of the culture so often shunned and even shamed, especially since the film was shot in the disgustingly xenophobic post-9/11 world.
Ahmad does have good things happen to him, but his friendships and romance–there’s a subplot involving a Spanish magazine stand proprietor–do more to sidetrack the film than add depth. With such a short runtime (it’s under 90 minutes), these aspects prove less necessary than intended.
MAN PUSH CART was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards: Best First Feature, Best Male Lead and Best Cinematography.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: 1.78:1 in 1080p with MPEG-4 AVC codec. “The film was shot on Sony HDW-F900R CineAlta and completed in a fully digital workflow. This high-definition digital transfer was approved by director Ramin Bahrani.”
MAN PUSH CART looks quite nice on this release, with a healthy image that stays faithful to the source.
Audio: English 5.1 Surround. “The new 5.1 surround mix was created for this release from the dialog, music, and effects stems by Tom Efinger at Red Hook Post in Brooklyn and supervised by Bahrani.”
Dialogue is clean, the atmosphere is natural and the score plays nicely.
Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Ramin Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, assistant director Nicholas Elliott, and actor Ahmad Razvi
The Formation of a Filmmaker (19:30): Bahrani and critic Hamid Dabashi discuss MAN PUSH CART and its influence.
Against All Odds: Making “Man Push Cart” (24:48): Bahrani, actor Razvi and AD Elliott reflect on the making of the film.
Backgammon (12:03): A 1998 short film by Bahrani.
Trailer
Also included with this Criterion Collection release: an essay by Bilge Ebiri.
