ramin bahrani Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Goodbye Solo -- which comes out on Lionsgate DVD on August 25 -- may seem like a fairly simple, lightweight indie movie, one of those quirky movies about a mismatched friendship. Hollywood loves movies about uptight misfits who need to be opened up and drawn out of their shell, and it loves movies about the loony, loopy oddballs who perform this service. At first glance, Goodbye Solo could have been just another forgettable formula entry. But under the gentle, wise, subtle direction of Ramin Bahrani, it becomes something special, a genuine sleeper. It may be the best DVD you rent this summer. (It will include a commentary track by Bahrani and cinematographer Michael Simmonds.)

In the film, Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane, in a terrific film debut) comes from Senegal and lives in North Carolina, drives a cab, is married to a Mexican woman (Carmen Leyva), and is expecting his first child. He dreams of becoming a flight attendant and constantly studies his manual. He also has a whip-smart stepdaughter Alex (Diana Franco Galindo) who likes to spend time with him. Solo is like somebody you might know and wish to be more like; he has lots of friends and seems to trade in favors more often than money. (His wife, however, sees him as dreamy and impractical.)

Read more and watch the exclusive clip after the jump ...

We have new trailers for your viewing pleasure, all for films set to play at SXSW next month in Austin, Texas.

Know Your Mushrooms. Documentarian Ron Mann previously made Go Further, Grass, and Comic Book Confidential; now he turns his probing gaze to "a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi." Featuring a "neo-psychedelic soundtrack" by the Flaming Lips, animation, and archival footage, the doc promises a "longer, stronger trip," but don't worry: its running time is only 73 minutes. In that spirit, the teaser trailer, embedded above, is only 45 seconds long.

Goodbye Solo. 'A cab driver picks up a routine fare, only to find his life turned upside down when the man he picks up asks him to take him to a remote mountaintop location, where he plans to jump to his death.' When it played at Toronto, Kim Voynar described it as "a thoughtful, compelling film," which sounds like what we've come to expect from director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop). Goodbye Solo has been playing the festival circuit since last fall; the trailer and four clips are available at the official site. [Via /Film]

Died Young, Stayed Pretty. Offering "a candid look at the underground poster culture in North America," Died Young, Stayed Pretty asks searching questions: How does an octopus get 'played out'? Are rock posters really the 'purest form of art that our culture has'? Eileen Yaghoobian spent four years making her first feature-length doc, which will have its US Premiere at the fest. You can buy all six of the film's posters at the official site.

I've posted one of them after the jump, where you'll also find the NSFW trailer.

There are indie filmmakers who try to work in the realm of small character dramas and succeed only in making myopic films that feel inert and meaningless; there are those who attempt to stand out from the pack by writing scripts replete with quirky story lines and witty dialogue, only to end up with a mundane mess; and then there are a few who manage to achieve, through a combination of richly drawn, yet simple stories and excellent cinematography, a level of filmmaking that inspires without overwhelming, impresses without overreaching. Ramin Bahrani falls firmly in the latter camp, and with his latest film, Goodbye Solo, the director builds on the excellence of his previous work with a finely drawn tale of a cabdriver and the fare who changes his life.

Bahrani starts with an intriguing premise: Solo, a cab driver (Souléymane Sy Savané) picks up a routine fare, only to find his life turned upside down when the man he picks up asks him to take him to the remote mountaintop location of Blowing Rock in two weeks, where he plans to jump to his death. Solo's troubled by both the plans of his fare, William (Red West) to end his life, and the implications to himself of being a party to the man's suicide; he decides to befriend the older man in an attempt to persuade him to change his plans. This is the simple set-up for the film, and it's all Bahrani needs to make a thoughtful, compelling film that explores the relationship between these two vastly different men and the way they're changed by the friendship they form.

TITLE: Goodbye Solo
DIRECTED BY: Ramin Bahrani
STARS: Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo, Lane 'Roc' Williams

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: William, an elderly man (West), hires Solo (Savane), a charming taxi driver, to drive him in two weeks to a mountaintop so he can jump to his death. Solo befriends William, and decides to try to stop him from ending his life.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Bahrani is one of the most exciting young directors working in indpendent film. His film Man Push Cart, played numerous fests and was picked by Roger Ebert as one of the films for his Overlooked Film Festival in 2005, and his 2007 film, Chop Shop, also played well on the fest circuit and was one of the best indie films of that year. With Goodbye Solo, Bahrani works once again with cinematographer Michael Simmonds, who did fantastic work on Bahrani's previous two films. This one is a must-see for indie film lovers at TIFF.

Back to the TIFF Preview page ...

Hmm, I don't remember any of this week's noteworthy indie DVD releases playing at theaters in my area, so why don't we catch up together and decide what to rent? Listed (roughly) in order of critical favor:

Chop Shop (pictured). Second feature by Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart) is a coming of age story set in a New York junkyard. Cinematical review (entirely positive): Kim Voynar. DVD features: audio commentary with director and actors, rehearsal footage, and trailer.

The Tracey Fragments. Ellen Page stars in Bruce McDonald's harrowing drama. Cinematical reviews (both positive): Erik Davis; James Rocchi. DVD features: behind the scenes footage and interviews with McDonald and Page, entries from the "Tracey: Re-fragmented" contest, a selection of images by photographer Matt Sullivan, and trailer.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten. Julien Temple's doc on the influential Clash musician. Cinematical reviews (both frustrated): Kevin Kelly; Jeffrey M. Anderson. DVD features: audio commentary with Temple, 100 minutes of additional interview footage, and trailer.

American Zombie. Grace Lee's horror comedy depicts the ordinary, day to day challenges of life as one of the undead. Cinematical review (disappointed): Jette Kernion. DVD features: audio commentaries, behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes, and trailers.

Sleepwalking. Family drama about a young girl dealing with life after her mother abandons her; with Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, and Dennis Hopper. Cinematical reviews (both negative): James Rocchi; Jeffrey M. Anderson. DVD features: "making of," and trailer.

Good news for all you New Yorkers -- one of my favorite films of last year's fest circuit, Chop Shop, is now playing at New York City's Film Forum. The film played Cannes and Toronto last year, and just came off a screening at the Berlinale. Filmmaker Ramin Bahrani, who just won the Independent Spirit's Someone to Watch award, previously made the critically acclaimed Man Push Cart, and his follow-up is every bit as good as that film.

Chop Shop revolves around a young boy named Ale, who lives and works in a chop shop in NYC's tough Iron Triangle district. Added bonus: at the 8PM screenings tonight and tomorrow night, Bahrani will be on hand for a Q&A following the screening. The film will play at Film Forum through March 11.

Daily Green Cine has a nice round-up of reviews of the film; you can also read our review of the film from the Toronto International Film Festival, and our interview with Bahrani.

There's a great trio of indie DVD releases to choose from this week. When she saw Man Push Cart at Sundance early last year, our own Kim Voynar called it "a beautifully executed film ... about perseverance in the face of emptiness and seemingly insurmountable odds, and yet it isn't a cliched, all's well that ends well film." Writer/director Ramin Bahrani follows the daily life of Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a former pop star in Pakistan who now struggles to make a living as a pushcart vendor in New York City. The DVD from Films Philos includes an audio commentary as well as two short films by the director.

In her review of the Romanian picture 12:08 East of Bucharest, Martha Fischer declared it to be the funniest film she saw at the Toronto festival last year. As Martha wrote, "set in a small town outside of Bucharest on December 22, 2005 ... the movie documents the efforts of Jderescu (Teodor Corban), a textile engineer/TV station owner, to assemble a panel for a live TV show on the revolution, and then to keep that show in order, once it goes on-air." Tartan Films' DVD includes an audio commentary by the director.

Ulrich Thomsen stars as a famous pianist who returns to his native Denmark in Christoffer Boe's drama Allegro. Sean Axmaker at GreenCine Daily wrote: "Boe takes the handheld work and naturalistic performance style in his own direction, weaving it through a romantic fantasy of troubled love that reveals the impossibility of remaining unhurt in our emotional lives." The DVD from Koch Lorber is a bit light, with only a "making of" feature as an extra, but Boe is definitely a director to watch. His first feature, Reconstruction, was very good, and his latest, Offscreen, which I saw at Fantastic Fest, is mesmerizing, so Allegro sounds like it's definitely worth a rental.

With his second feature film, Chop Shop, director Ramin Bahrani carries on his theme of exploring the "invisible people" of society that he started with his first film, Man Push Cart, which played Sundance (and other fests) in 2006. Where Man Push Cart showed a cross-section of the life of a former Pakistani pop star reduced to selling doughnuts and coffee to busy Manhattanites, in Chop Shop Bahrani shows us the life of a young Latino boy who lives and works in the Iron Triangle district of New York City. Bahrani took time out of pre-prod for his latest film, Solo, to chat with Cinematical by phone about Chop Shop, Man Push Cart, and his unique style of making films.

Cinematical: Both Man Push Cart and Chop Shop have the similar thematic element of focusing on people whose lives most people don't spend a lot of energy thinking about -- the guy who sells them coffee and bagels on their way to work, the street kid hustling in a chop shop. Why the focus on these "invisible" people?

Ramin Bahrani: I don't know how you feel about this, and I don't know what the reaction is going to be to Chop Shop when it's released in the States, when more people in the States see this film. I think both these films are about immigrant-type characters: in Chop Shop, Ale is young enough that he maybe could have been born here, or if he and Isamar immigrated they were very young, that was left deliberately ambiguous -- but I don't think that's the essential tissue of the film. I just feel like I'm tired of seeing the same independent films being made over and over again. This "mumblecore" stuff that's popular right now -- I'm not interested in these stories about these really attractive white kids, and their really attractive friends, and their problems. I'm interested in these groups of people, the people you don't see featured so much in films, and that's why I focus on them.

I see the connection between these characters in my films, and the kind of people who will see the film – mostly white, educated, the bourgeois, you know? Not that there's anything wrong with those people at all, it's just that they're the most likely demographic to see independent films at all. I'd like to see someone figure out how to market a film like Chop Shop to Hispanic school-age kids, but that's just not reality.

But as a filmmaker I don't see it as my job to connect those pieces of society. There is a connection between the screen and the viewer, and how the viewer reacts to it, but I'm not interested in why that chop shop exists, or why Ahmad's character exists, or why the taxi driver (in his next film, Solo) exists. I'm not a moral filmmaker, there's no moral message in the end of my films, there's no moral question. The characters are pretty pragmatic. In Chop Shop, Ale is involved in many things that people watching the film may find immoral or illegal, and they may be confused about why there's no judgment in the film, why there's no good or bad in the film. But it's who he is, he's surviving, and he's a kid – he doesn't make those judgments. That's just where he is, and I just think it's not my place to judge them.

From the moment I saw Ramin Bahrani's Man Push Cart at Sundance a couple years ago, I knew I'd found a filmmaker I was going to like. In Man Push Cart, Bahrani took a figure most folks who live in or visit New York City take for granted -- the guys who operate the shiny metal pushcarts you see dotting every other street corner, pimping doughnuts and coffee to busy Manhattanites -- and explored the fictional existence of pushcart man Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a former Pakistani pop star turned average deeply depressed guy trying to survive in the wake of his wife's death. Man Push Cart impressed me because of both the depth with which Bahrani explored his character and the gritty realism with which the film plopped the viewer into Ahmad's dismal, but not hopeless, existence.

Bahrani scored well with Man Push Cart -- the film premiered at Venice before going on to play a slew of fests, including Sundance, before getting a limited theatrical release and a DVD release the UK and Spain (soon to come in the US, according to Bahrani's official website). But in spite of being called " ... among the most striking American independent movies of the last year" (along with In Between Days and Cavite) by Dennis Lim, writing for the New York Times, Man Push Cart was rather overlooked by a lot of critics at Sundance and didn't find huge theatrical success. Roger Ebert liked the film enough to slot it in his Overlooked Film Festival the same year, but the film's total box office is just over $55,000, according to Box Office Mojo. I was disappointed it didn't do better off the fest circuit; it was one of the best independent films I saw that year, and I eagerly waited to see what Bahrani was going to do which his next film, and I'm pleased to be able to say that with Chop Shop, Bahrani has a solid follow-up.

Los Angeles, as any filmmaker can tell you, can be a tough town for independent films. We love independent film here at Cinematical, and so we will do our part to make sure film fans on the left coast know when good indie films are opening near them. This weekend there are (at least) two indie films with West Coast openings.

Man Push Cart, which is going into its third week in New York City with strong per screen numbers, opens today in Los Angeles and Pasadena at Laemmle Theaters and at the Fallbrook 7 in West Hills. Man Push Cart, directed by Ramin Bahrani and starring promising newcomer Ahmad Razvi, tells the tale of a former Pakistani pop star who sells coffee and donuts out of a NYC push cart to make a living. This beautifully understated film was one of my favorites at Sundance earlier this year, and was also a fave of Roger Ebert, who liked the film so much he featured it at his own Overlooked Film Festival. If you're in NYC, the film moves this weekend from the Angelika to Village East Cinemas.

Also opening on the West Coast this weekend in Los Angeles and San Francisco is Georgia Lee's Red Doors, a film about a dysfunctional Chinese-American family whose patriarch is struggling to find meaning in life following his own retirement, and his daughters growing up. Lee and her producers financed this film themselves rather than compromise with studios on having the family be Asian-American and having one of the daughters have a lesbian romance, and they have worked overtime to market their film at the grassroots level on a tiny indie-film budget. There will be two premiere parties for the film this weekend: In San Fran, the party will be at Thai Stick tonight, and in Los Angeles there will be a party at Garden of Eden on Saturday. The cast and filmmakers will be attending screenings and doing post-show Q&As throughout opening weekend as well.

Red Doors will play in San Fran at The Clay Theater; in Los Angeles at The Music Hall, The Pasadena Playhouse, and The Encino Town Center; and is still playing New York at The Village East Cinemas. Need more info, or want to bring a whole group along? Check out the film's website.

If you go see either film, come back and let us know what you thought about them!