Man Push Cart
User Score
7.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

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  1. KenG
    Oct 6, 2006
    8
    Sad, haunting, and unlike much of what Hollywood puts out, this feels refreshingly honest.
  2. ChadS.
    Nov 23, 2007
    8
    What happens in Pakistan, stays in Pakistan. When Mohammad(Charles Daniel Sandoval) encourages Ahmad(Ahmad Razvi) that he resume his music career, you can imagine the direction in which "Man Push Cart" would go had this film not been an homage to Italian neorealism(there's a specific reason as to why Noemi(Leticia Dolera) is from Barcelona). But this filmmaker knows that you don';t crossover from Pakistan. Mohammad isn't naive. He refers to Ahmad as "this Pakistani guy" even though the immigrant is Pakistani himself. "Man Push Cart" nails the peculiar divide that exists between successful and unsuccessful men from the third world. Although "Man Push Cart" seems gratuitous in its need to be unrelentingly downbeat, the film is nevertheless a thoughtful character-driven story about how dogged perseverance in a racially hierarchical society, you suspect, often has no payoff if you don't hail from a westernized society.… Expand
  3. JimC.
    Oct 10, 2006
    1
    To describe this movie as depressing and without any redeeming qualities would be a gross understatment. i saw this with 2 of my sons (age 30 +-). One agreed with me that this was the worst film ever. My youngest thought the director had managed to capture the complete hopelessness of (clinical) depression. The young Spanish actress is riveting. Everything else is tripe.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Jay Weissberg
    50
    An example of spare, slice-of-life indie cinema at its most unpretentious, Man Push Cart adeptly and subtly layers facts about the protag's history and character into his story.
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  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Michael Atkinson
    50
    Man Push Cart is a diminutive film, finally--vying for a neorealist vibe, it lacks the Italian history makers' narrative urgency, and the sociopolitical conflict at the heart of the immigration "issue" is hardly engaged.
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  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    This modern slice of neorealism has been made with a skill, and humanity, that suggests Bahrani may have a "Bicycle Thief" in him yet.
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