Chop Shop

source: Chop Shop

Chop Shop, as the title indicates, is a place where cars are chopped up and used for spare parts. In this case, the setting Queens, New York in a neighborhood notorious for criminal activity. The star is twelve year old street kid named Alejandro(Alejandro Polanco) who is recruited by a repair shop to steal auto parts, mostly from parked cars. He ends up living at the garage with his sister Isamar(Isamar Gonzalez). She works selling food from a van but her brother soon discovers that she is also working as a prostitute in order to save enough money to buy a food truck of her own. Alejandro adds to his income by lifting hubcaps to sell and also deals with pirated Dvds. Together, he and his sister make enough cash to buy a van but it needs extensive repairs and they don't have the resources to fix it. The two actors playing brother and sister are so talented and the streets of New York City so gritty and authentic that I was totally absorbed by this film.

I love gritty drama films. Especially those that include a coming of age story. This poignant film by director Ramin Bahrani and writer Bahareh Azimi showcases the struggle of a Latino street orphan to make life better for himself and his sister. Ale, played wonderfully by Alejandro Polanco in his first staring role, finds a job working for a local mechanic doing odd jobs. He finds out that his sister is doing some things on the side for money that aren't, well, "respectable". His portrayal was very realistic and at times it seemed like I was watching a documentary. There isn't much of a plot here, but you can't help but to appreciate the performances. The two leads, Polanco and Isamar Gonzales (Ale's Sister) were found at a local school with no prior acting experience or study. Finding that out post viewing made me appreciate their "chops" even more so. Also, most of the extra's were just people milling around their normal lives in Queens. This is why this type of film is labeled as "neo-realism" and why it was such a successful production. The setting of the film by itself is a character of the movie. Shot in Willets Point, Queens in New York, this IS the real deal. Bahrani mentions in an interview with Alt Film Guide that "...I am making films about how the majority of people in this world live, and we must also accept that this majority is utterly ignored by Hollywood and Independent film..." So true he is. The gritty real background of Chop Shop pulls the audience even more into the performances of the actors. Allowing the director to "...direct without directing." as he mentions in the same interview. Being that there is not much of a plot in this movie, one has to ask why? Was there a reason the writers chose to concentrate on a "section" of time in this boys life? Yes, it was to show that in real life things happen, secrets are revealed and life goes on. I appreciated the fact that this was just a snippet of what Ale's existence is really like. We don't know if he gets out of the slums or if his sister succeeds in a more productive endeavor. What we do know is that life is hard, and sometimes you have to do what you have to do to survive. The situations presented in this film were shown without a filter so to speak. Ramin Bahrani did a wonderful job giving us a glimpse into the street life so many children are part of today. Cinematographer Michael Simmons, who also worked on "Man Push Cart" the directors first film, was outstanding. He moved the camera a lot, but it was to the benefit of the viewer in my opinion. We weren't concentrated on one central character, we were distracted by the goings on around the dialog on screen, much like it would be in real life. The production team filmed using the High Definition Sony F900 then blew up the final product to 35mm. It was a good decision and gave the film that gritty, documentary feel the director was going for. I really enjoyed this little slice of life from Queens. It was something I haven't really seen before so that was refreshing. I've bumped this up to a 4/5 due to the striking performances of the actors. Initially I would have given a 3/5 due to the fact that with all of the films positive points, it was still a little boring. If you are looking for a stylized extravagant production with a happy ending, you may want to look elsewhere. For those looking for an experience unlike many out there, this one is for you.

The film chop shop is a nice little drama film about an orphan brother and sister living in a chop shop in queens New York. The cinematography in chop shop was done very well, and the actual story was good, but the script had to much useless lines. The worst thing in this film to me was the acting, the actors felt like first timers. The main character was a little boy who spoke loudly most of the time and acted like he was older then his older sister. I felt like they had the screenplay in there hands as the film was going on. With this film the director was trying to show people how a kid could live basically homeless but it seemed like nothing to everyone else around him. The kid didn't go to school but worked and hustled everyday. The film was slow pace, with not that much action going on, a really quiet and subtle film. When things did happen it wasn't that big or stunning to effect you that much. The visuals put the audience in the world of a poor, hardworking Spanish junk yard away from the rest of New York. Overall the film was great to see but the acting felt unrealistic.

The majesty of Ramin Bahrani's second feature is that, like the work of a poet, he portrays the very soul of humanity and lets it flourish on the screen. Beyond the scope of most other indie films out there, CHOP SHOP is wise, exuding the very best of the great cinema of the ages; we can look back at the works of Bresson and Pasolini and compare Bahrani's work to theirs, and yet CHOP SHOP is fresh and urgent to modern society. We can see the workings of a master here – a certain sense of beauty, style, and content all merge together in a film that reminds us what it means to be alive. Instead of focusing on the side of NYC we so often see, we live and breathe with our young hero, Alejandro, in the destitute Willits Point – a fascinating quasi-sub-world of our culture – and yet it's a very, very real place. Trying to stay afloat, Alejandro has to support himself and his older sister. Watch this film and feel the sense of raw spiritual understanding that Bahrani leads us toward – all with profound and concise realism.

Can't say this wasn't made well. At a recent film festival the director admitted some scenes took 30 takes. And there isn't the slightest indication he didn't get exactly what he wanted. But this is an oddly non-Hispanic film in the same way West Side Story was many years ago. Both the leads, a brother-sister team, are excellent and memorable in their parts. The setting, a sort of underground car repair district in Queens, is completely foreign to most people and is worth the price of admission by itself. But there's something unsatisfying about the key issue in the film, namely, what the sister feels she has to do to get by. I can understand the brother's reaction, but it just seems a little too easily come by to me. The movie seems to suggest that people like these don't need our help, that they'll find a way to survive without the usual support systems. I wouldn't encourage anyone to believe that. There would be far more resistance to the choices made here than depicted. Other than that as an entertainment it works well. As an accurate depiction of a culture, not so well, I think.

It's not very clear what the intention of the director is. It's not a documentary since it does not have an objective, and it's not a movie since it has no plot. The story fails to develop a central theme and jumps from one subject to another without any coherence. The (too-many) characters are so partially described that their relationship often seems contradictory. It leads to total audience apathy and occasional confusion. It's even less obvious if the main character is truly the plot's protagonist as no strong evidence of his "raison d'être" is defined. His antipathetic behavior and lack of wit and wisdom further distance him from any prejudgment the audience may have had beforehand. For instance, his relationship with his sister appears to be that of a protective brother at best and that of a 'pimp' at worst; his skills at working in a chop shop shows him as a street-smart at best, and a total dupe (when he makes that obviously bad deal) at worst. The open and meaningless ending proves once again the inability of the director to concisely bring the attention toward a central point and leaves the audience hanging and (extremely) disappointed. This is not realism!

Some critics have compared Chop Shop with the theatrical releases of City of God and Pixote. I've seen both of those as well as Chop Shop and like in many instances, I don't feel the comparison is warranted. City of God and Pixote surely had a much higher budget. Chop Shop is a low budget independent film about survival and hope, disappointment, and continuing with life. One of the scenes is allegedly filmed during the US Open and either the filmmakers had incredible connections or the scene was filmed at another time and the US open footage was added. I say that because I live in the area where this movie was filmed and security is insane while the tennis matches are in progress. It's also noteworthy that the actors actual names were their character's names in the movie. Back to the movie. It's an enjoyable story about survival. However, it ended up getting a 7 because... at times the actors acted extremely well. At other times, they appeared to be just reciting their lines. If the actors were less competent (as they were in the low budget "The Big Dis" for example) I would have been more forgiving. But in several scenes each and every one of these actors gave exemplary performances. At other times, they appeared bored. The director might be at fault here. I also had problems with the ending. This is one of those movies that "just ends". Maybe there will be a part 2? Definitely worth getting on DVD. I wont bother summing up the story because that info is already available on IMDb.

I enjoyed Ramin Bahrani's Man Push Cart, and this film is equally good. This slice of life is almost a documentary about how life on the edges is lived. Alejandro Polanco and Isamar Gonzales do an excellent job as a 12-year-old brother and a 16-year-old sister who live in a small room over an auto shop. There are no parents; they are on their own surviving. Ali supplements his income by stealing auto parts, selling bootleg DVDs and selling candy on the subway. Izzie supplements her income working a food truck by selling herself. They are trying to make money to but their own truck. One is tempted to express outrage at the fact that these two children are left to fend on their own, and certainly one can be very upset that Izzie sells her body to willing truckers, but the fact is that this exists today in the world's richest country, not some underdeveloped land. Save the outrage and do something.

Chop Shop, the second feature from Ramin Bahrani, is a rare breed. It is an American film that tells a story not usually found in American cinema, the story of the of a minority living in poverty. It is a work of simple beauty. Shot on location in Queens, New York in the shadows of Shea Stadium, Chop Shop is neo-realism to the core. Featuring a cast of non-actors, it has more in common with Vittorio De Sica's classic Bicycle Thieves than anything made in the United States. There is no score or soundtrack, all the music and sounds are diagetic. Watching it feels like watching a great foreign film, it takes us to another world because it is so uncommon to see. However this other world is not post-World War II Rome or Istanbul or New Delhi, it is contemporary New York City. Bahrani tells the story of Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), better known as Ale. He is a 12-year-old Latin-American kid with no parents or family unit to watch after him. He lives in a tiny room upstairs in the auto shop that he also works at. He shares the same bed with his teenage sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). Neither of them have made it passed second grade. Ale, though young, is tough and mature. He acts as the head of the small family. He hooks his sister up with a job, and he himself does anything he can to make a buck when not working at the chop shop. He sells bootleg DVDs on the streets and candy in subways. He searches for scrap auto parts and sells them to the many auto shops lining the street where he lives. Alejandro is heartbroken when he learns his sister is working nights as a prostitute. He himself becomes progressively disinterested in abiding by the law. He begins to steal, first car parts and later wallets. Like Antonio, the desperate protagonist in Bicycle Thieves, we cannot blame Ale for becoming a thief. It is merely survival. Ale and Isamar save up in hopes of buying a food vending van for $4,500. They see the van as their way out, and there is much optimism. However, as is usually the case in neo-realism, we know this will only lead to disappointment. Polanco's riveting performance is what gives legitimacy to Chop Shop's realism. Here is a 12-year-old character that needs to be believably independent and vulnerably naive. Whether he is directing cars to the shop, selling movies and Snickers bars or playing with his sister in their scanty room, it is authentic. Chop Shop is a sobering reminder that not all American children grow up in a land of opportunity. Ale's lifestyle is what many in middle-class white America consider 'third world'. They act cognizant the poverty and deprivation in foreign lands while sipping their coffee and reading the New York Times on Sunday morning, but make themselves blind to it on their own streets. Once you watch Chop Shop, you will think differently of the kids peddling candy on the subway. more reviews at www.mediasickness.com