Ramin Bahrani

Man Push Cart

Man Push Cart

A modest miracle of twenty-first-century neorealism, the acclaimed debut feature by Ramin Bahrani speaks quietly but profoundly to the experiences of those living on the margins of the American dream. Back in his home country of Pakistan, Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi, elements of whose own life story were woven into the script) was a famous rock star. Now a widower separated from his son and adrift in New York, he works long hours selling coffee and bagels from a Midtown Manhattan food cart, engaged in a Sisyphean search for human connection and a sense of purpose that seems perpetually just out of reach. A rare immigrant’s-eye view of a post-9/11 city suffused with subtle paranoia and xenophobia, Man Push Cart gives at once empathetic and clear-eyed expression to the everyday drama of human endurance.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 2005
  • 87 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English, Urdu
  • Spine #1066

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, assistant director Nicholas Elliott, and actor Ahmad Razvi
  • New conversation among Bahrani, Elliott, and Razvi on the making of the film
  • New conversation between Bahrani and scholar Hamid Dabashi on the origins of the film and Bahrani’s cinematic influences
  • Backgammon, a 1998 short film by Bahrani
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Bilge Ebiri

New cover by La Moutique

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2005 featuring Bahrani, director of photography Michael Simmonds, assistant director Nicholas Elliott, and actor Ahmad Razvi
  • New conversation among Bahrani, Elliott, and Razvi on the making of the film
  • New conversation between Bahrani and scholar Hamid Dabashi on the origins of the film and Bahrani’s cinematic influences
  • Backgammon, a 1998 short film by Bahrani
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Bilge Ebiri

New cover by La Moutique

Man Push Cart
Cast
Ahmad Razvi
Ahmad
Leticia Dolera
Noemi
Charles Daniel Sandoval
Mohammad
Ali Reza
Manish
Farooq "Duke" Muhammad
Duke
Upendran K. Panicker
Noori
Arun Lal
Father-in-law
Razia Mujahid
Mother-in-law
Hassan Razvi
Ahmad’s son
Mustafa Razvi
Pakistani driver
Altaf Houssein
Altaf
Bill Lewis
Final customer
Credits
Director
Ramin Bahrani
Written by
Ramin Bahrani
Producers
Ramin Bahrani
Pradip Ghosh
Bedford Tate Bentley III
Coproducers
Brian Bell
Tom Donahue
Anura Idupuganti
Executive producer
Vinay Jayaram
Scott Booth
Steve Sabba
Sanjay Motwani
Lisa Muskat
Director of photography
Michael Simmonds
Music by
Peyman Yazdanian
Assistant director
Nicholas Elliott
Edited by
Ramin Bahrani
Sound by
Christof Gebert
Art director
Charles Dafler

Current

Man Push Cart: A Melancholy Pull
Man Push Cart: A Melancholy Pull

Set in a transient, post-9/11 New York City, Rahmin Bahrani’s feature debut follows the Sisyphean toil of a Pakistani immigrant whose life teeters on the verge of catastrophe.

By Bilge Ebiri

An Inside Look at Brooklyn-Based Artist Juan Miguel Marin’s Meditative Process

Studio Visits

An Inside Look at Brooklyn-Based Artist Juan Miguel Marin’s Meditative Process

The man behind the artwork for our releases of The Cremator, Man Push Cart, and Chop Shop talks with us about how his Ecuadorian roots and his love of performance inform his enigmatic images.