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. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • High-definition digital master, supervised and approved by director Ramin Bahrani, with uncompressed stereo 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