Customer Reviews

Chop Shop

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As with his previous film, "Man Push Cart," director Ramin Bahrani paints a bracingly honest portrait of immigrant life on the economic edges of New York City. In "Chop Shop" we meet two orphaned children, energetic, enterprising Alejandro, and his older sister Isi, who he takes care of more than she takes care of him. At the start of the film, Ale is out on the streets, working any angles he can think of to find food or small change. When an opportunity for work (and a place to stay) arises, he seizes it instantly, and swiftly settles into a position as an assistant in a low-rent auto garage in New York's "Iron Triangle", where dozens of so-called "chop shops" compete for business with an endless stream of beat-up old cars. Alejandro winds up in one of the more honest shops, living in a cramped space above the garage floor, learning the tools of the trade and using his considerable charisma and self-confidence to steer potential customers into the front door.

"Chop Shop" shares several themes with Bahrani's earlier masterpiece, "Man Push Cart," but differs from that film in that no back story is presented to explain why or how these kids would up homeless -- they just are, and they simply deal with the situation as best they can. Like "Man Push Cart," the movie is full of tension and dread, but often defies viewer expectations, which are generally shaped by decades of cliched storytelling. Bahrani's films, however, are anything but cliched -- his cinema verite style creates an earthy, palpable reality, one that draws you in completely and rivets your attention. The dramas he presents are both so humble and so dire that they are utterly compelling, and make this a very fine film.

Great acting from his cast, particularly from Alejandro Polanco, a natural actor with as much charm and inner wit as his character, and Ahmad Razvi, who plays one of the neighboring garage owners. The cast features many actual chop-shop workers, adding an extra layer of reality and authenticity to this remarkable film. Definitely worth checking out! (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

Ramin Bahrani succeeds again with another amazing film. Between this and Man Push Cart, I believe he has cornered the genre of film making that feels like a documentary, but is fiction - yet better than what could be recorded as such.

The story is set near the auto slums of the Bronx, modern day. Two young siblings journey together in finding a way to make a living there. The boy, played INCREDIBLY by Alejandro Polanco works at one of the mechanic's shops on the strip, while his sister earns income in a much less glorious way. The film is simply enough, their story over a few days, there is no beginning or end perce. I was so impressed with AP's performance. Even in watching the rehearsal extras on the DVD, he appears to have the makings of a promising actor. This is his only film but I hope he continues.

This is not a film to watch if you are looking for something light with child actors, this is quite the opposite. I have never seen such adult themes and scenes in a film with actors this age. Judging once again by the amount of screens it played and no apparent advertising budget, another great film will get overlooked.

The film's protagonist, Alejandro, a preteen orphan, lives and works in a chop shop, an auto parts dealer that specializes in breaking down whole cars into parts; cars that, usually, are stolen.

The shop is owned by Rob, an actual chop shop owner, who generously provides Ale with shelter and money but exploits him for his hard, cheap labor. This is the landscape of Bahrani's film: a vicious, ugly stasis between abject poverty and comfortable living, a place where life is defined by the fruits of a day's labor--a place devoid of hope and dreams. Yet, Ale dares to dream.

Two words sum up this movie for me: sincere and touching.

At the heart of "Chop Shop" is the relationship between Alejandro and his slightly older sister, Isamar. We see them struggle through the trials of life, amid a wasteland section of Queens, New York, with each hardship enforcing a necessity to persevere, the constant struggle becoming their reason to exist. The specifics don't even matter--this is a film about people and life, the harsh background being merely that: a habitat for humans to act and react. There is not much else to provoke the inexplicably orphaned children, as the landscape and all prospects for the youths are bleak. Yet, they possess love and an undying will, a hope, to succeed, a richness paradoxically provided them by poverty. And for this they are willing to suffer themselves. They live for the day, for what will come of their suffering, with hopes of something else a seemingly distant yet powerful reason to live in the now. To make things happen.

So, at the film's end, there is no sadness. No anti-climax. And, also, no sentimental, Hollywood-ending to undermine all that's come before. There is as much hope here as we're allotted in the brilliant closing shot of De Sica's "Bicycle Thief", a movie undoubtedly having its imprint on Chop Shop and filmmaker Ramin Bahran's previous film, 2005's "Man Push Cart". A message that, though, life may not be all right, it will continue. That the film's closing shot is, apparently, mundane, proves that much more is going on in these last seconds; life goes on, yes, and though trying, the struggle against one's circumstance can be enough to validate existence. Ale and Isamar ARE because they struggle. It becomes what informs their habits and routines. It is no sin to live in dream, Bahrani tells us through his film, but a travesty to rely on its potential to transform. A brilliant work of art.

Extremely recommended for fans of his previous film "Man Push Cart". Bahrani is doing something interesting in American cinema: rejecting accepted Hollywood conventions and provoking his audience to think, to reflect on the films--an endangered practice in modern American cinema. See both films.

This is only my second Amazon movie review, and I was compelled to write it because this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. That of course means that all the usual elements of movie making (writing, acting, directing, etc.) are handled with excellence but, more importantly, this movie can deeply touch and move you in ways that you can't even fully grasp, and the effect can be long lasting (it has been for me). To be sure, this isn't a feel-good movie, but something subtly positive can still be found in it (see below).

I won't get into the details of the plot or characters, since I think it's really better that you come to the movie with minimal preconceptions and let things unfold and connect naturally. Let me instead just mention some of the general themes and lessons I drew from the movie, and that will hopefully tell you something useful without saying too much.

Most obviously, the movie shows, in a vivid yet nuanced way, just how difficult life can be in the poorer parts of urban America, to the point where even basic survival is a daily challenge and utter despair would be an understandable response. Yet we find that the human instinct is to push on and persevere, and we see that part of this instinct involves an ability to find a space for moments of simple and genuine happiness, sustained friendship and love, and even hope against all odds. In other words, we humans can often prove to be fairly resilient and even humane in circumstances that seemingly should reduce us to brutes. And therein lies the capacity of the movie to subtly uplift us: we learn, by example, about both empathy and facing the challenges in our own lives.

If the above observations don't seem so special, please blame me, not the movie, since I really can't do justice to this masterpiece. And, in a way, I don't quite blame myself either, since any truly great movie should accomplish something which goes well beyond what a reviewer can describe, summarize, or even critique. This is just such a movie, so I would urge you to experience it without hesitation. The only prerequisites are a perceptive eye, an open mind, and a sensitive heart.

Chop Shop will not be to everyone's taste. Meticulously and beautifully shot, it (as the English teachers say) lacks steady advance. It has a beginning, but not really much of a middle and end. A slice-of-life, apparent-but-not-real documentary, it concerns a 12 year-old boy who works in an auto repair shop in the shadow of Shea Stadium. His sole intention at this point in his life is to support himself and his older sister and keep their family together. This hope is briefly threatened but then resolved, favorably. If you enjoy watching a human relationship under trying circumstances, you will enjoy Chop Shop. If you like a more conventional narrative with standard plot arcs you will find it very slow. Nearly each shot is the result of 30-50 takes and even though the sets are limited and somewhat claustrophobic, the attention to cinematic detail is clear.

Writer/director Ramin Bahrani turns his attention to Willets Point, or the "Iron Triangle" area, on the outskirts of Queens in "Chop Shop", a cinema verite-style drama of youthful hope and frustration in this industrial desert. Ale (Alejandro Polanco) is an orphaned but industrious pubescent Latino boy who makes a living helping out at an auto body shop, whose owner Rob (Rob Sowulski) lets him live in the room above the shop. Determined to accumulate some savings, he earns extra cash as a day laborer and peddling odds and ends. When his older sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales) returns to the neighborhood, Ale proudly shows off his little apartment and tries everything he can think of to make her happy and hopeful.

"Chop Shop" was cast with non-professional actors who are certainly convincing in their roles, though I didn't find them natural in every scene. This is a loose narrative, and the miles of concrete, junk, and auto shops a stone's throw from Shea Stadium is a strong character in itself. I don't think that anyone actually lives in Willet's Point, and Ale and Isamar seem to be the only people who do in the movie. "Chop Shop" is an ambiguous sort of coming of age story, a slice of life of two capable young people on their own and without any means of support beyond their own hard work. Though Ale's plight is gut-wrenching at times, the optimism and dreams of this 12-year-old suffuse the film with hopefulness.

The DVD (Koch Lorber 2008): Bonus features include a theatrical trailer (3 min), 8 segments of rehearsals, training, and actors interacting, and a feature commentary by writer/director Ramin Bahrani, cinematographer Michael Simmonds, and actor Alejandro Polanco. The commentary is constant and eclectic. Bahrani and Simmonds talk about locations, characters, cast, technical issues, and emphasize how deliberate things really are in an independent, documentary-style film of this type. And they, along with Polanco, recall their experiences filming. Subtitles are available for the film in English.

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.

[...]

Director, Auteur, Ramin Bahrani in Italian Neo Realism fashion carries his street vendor/ canteen truck motif from Man Push Cart along with his take on the lower class struggling for the "American Dream" on the streets which prove to be every bit as competitive as the board room without the luxuries.

Little Alejandro ("Ale") is an enterprising little scrapper and orphan lives by his wits in a down at the heels section of Queens. Living by his wits - earning and saving money by ways legal and shady - he hoards his dollars to buy a truck that he envisions will become a mobile food cart business for himself and his older sister, Isamar.

Ale's vision of the future is jarred by some looming financial realities that surface only after he has negotiated the purchase of the beat-up van. Plus, he is shattered to discover his sister's method of earning extra cash.

This gritty film has a documentary-like feel to it, set in Queens within sight of Shea Stadium. Alejandro Polanco is brilliant as the industrious "Ale" of the movie. The film's ending may be abrupt to some and offers little resolution.

A tree may grow in Brooklyn but a chop shop thrives in Queens. "Chop Shop" is a good film, a gritty slice of a tough life.

Before I purchased this movie, I used to rent it at my local library on a bi-weekly basis until someone stole it(I guess someone liked it more than me). This movie shows what a person can do when they possess determination, courage, and street smarts. This is the story of Alejandro,(Ally) and his sister Isamar. They are two displaced kids who live in a garage in Queens, NY. The film does not explain where their parents are, the only thing we get to know about them is that the sister Isamar has been staying in "safe homes, has learned to cook good meals,and has finished 10th grade. The only thing we find out about Ally's past is that he didn't go to school.
The plot of the movie centers around Ally and Isamar's desire to own and operate a liunch truck. Ally is the more serious of the two even though he is younger than Isamar ,who we find out is prostituting herself inside the trucks parked around the area(think lot lizard). Ally looks the other way as his sister prostitutes, and is trying hard to change their lives. Ally and his sister are very close, but Isamar wants to do things most teens do like hang out with her friend Lila and go on dates. Ally is more enterprising than most adults, he and his friend Carlos sell candy to people on the subway, and bootleg dvd's to the men that work in the garage.
This is a great movie and I would recommend it, because it shows what you can do if you are determined, even if it doesn't always turn out as planned