Ahmad Razvi, Alejandro Polanco, Carlos Zapata
Alejandro, a tough street orphan, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In the confusing and complex world of adults, young Alejandro struggles to make a be...( read more
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DVD Release Date: July 8, 2008
Stats: 224 reviews
As I watched Chop Shop, I was under the impression it was an Italian neorealist film, only set in New York and in 2008. Rahmin Bahrani draws from quintessential neoralism a contemplative eye and a restrained pace, in an attempt to tell a wrenching story in the least effectist
...( read more)
"Chop Shop", which premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, is the second effort of writer-director Ramin Bahrani. Shooting his film documentary-style in the neighborhood of Willets Point, Queens, he takes us into a completely forgotten corner of our country.
Willets Point i...( read more)
Alejandro, a tough street orphan, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In the confusing and complex world of adults, young Alejandro struggles to make a better life for himself and his sister, Isamar.
i have to say i was pretty disappointed with this one. the acting, especially from the protagonist, felt forced and it's characters lacked pathos. the films thematic elements are nothing we havent seen before. it's purpose is to be thought provoking but i found it all so bromidic...( read more)
Chop Shop, a neorealistic view into a modern urban lower-class, is a remarkably well put together film, with a plot that is about as serious and realistic as you can ever get in cinema... which I mean literally. Usually, seriousness can get away with fudging realism to amplify it...( read more)
This is a great slice of life film that I really enjoyed. Simple to the point where it might turn some people off of the film, I have always thought this style of filmmaking adds a true ripple of suspense. Most everyone who watches films like this one keeps waiting for the worst ...( read more)
This was compared to "Pixote" and "City of God", but it came no where near to either the beauty or tragedy of either of those amazing films. It was predictable and boring, although Alejandro was an incredible child actor and I hope he goes far in the future.
Chop Shop is concerned principally with the kind of hard, marginal labor that more comfortable city dwellers rarely notice.
The boy is fueled by a manic energy, moving so fast and furious, so ridiculously and affectingly hopeful, that it's hard to find time to reflect on what he's missing. full review
Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop is a low-budget vérité triumph. full review
With Chop Shop, Ramin Bahrani exhibits a restraint not found in his 2005 debut Man Push Cart, focusing more intently on his tale's neorealist particulars than its symbolic potential. full review
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