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.

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.

Ahmad pushes a food cart in Manhattan. To most, he's just another nameless Pakistani immigrant. He's struggling to make money with various odd jobs. He was actually a famous rock star back in Pakistan. After the death of his wife, he is desperate to reunite with his son. He falls for a Spanish girl who started working at a nearby newspaper stand.

This is a compelling indie of a piece of a life. It's universal. It's personal. It's full of pathos, empathy, and the general striving for more. It's the striving for dignity, for family, and for a place in the world. It is sad and wonderous all at the same time.