Capturing grungy Queens blocks on the cusp of change as if it's the Third World, where entrepreneurial boys aggressively, and heartbreakingly, take on adult responsibilities.
Comment
12/03/08
Rate this Movie 
Chop Shop (2007)
96 %
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
Reviews Counted: 48
Fresh: 46
Rotten:2
Average Rating: 7.8/10
Consensus: Filled with excellent performances, Ramin Bahrani's deft sophomore effort is a heartfelt, hopeful neorealist look at the people who live in the gritty underbelly of New York City.
Runtime: 84 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release: Feb 27, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Set in Willet's Point, an industrial sprawl of auto repair shops and junkyards in outer New York City, CHOP SHOP tells the story of 12-year-old Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), an orphan living a... [More]
Starring: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Rob Sowulski, Carlos Zapata
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Get This Movie
Reviews for Chop Shop
All these low-level criminal enterprises and idle dreams aren't happening in Mexico City or Kandahar; they're just outside Queens.
10/18/08
What Chop Shop does well, is take us into America's hidden Third World for a bit of culture shock.
07/21/08
It's a near-masterwork of low-budget precision and improvisation, constructed and rehearsed over many months in collaboration with the actors and the entire Willets Point community.
07/09/08
Top Critic
Top Critic In this clear-eyed, quietly absorbing film, director Ramin Bahrani opens up a wedge of Third World America that operates, all but invisibly, in plain sight.
06/27/08
Top Critic Bahrani celebrates those who never give up, no matter how badly their dreams are shattered.
05/30/08
Top Critic The raw power of this unassuming snapshot would make Vittorio De Sica proud.
05/30/08
It's exciting watching Bahrani explore the possibilities of neo-realism to dramatize penury and disenfranchisement among the service-class in this country.
05/30/08
Top Critic Skillfully evading bleakness and sentimentality, Chop Shop is a terrifically assured piece of filmmaking.
05/29/08
Ramin Bahrani's patient, perfectly-scripted vérité drama doesn't have many plot points, but we're so absorbed in their world that each upset leaves us frustrated and furious.
05/29/08
Lean and gritty, the movie eschews false sentiment, but in Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), a tough, resourceful 12-year-old who stares down reality and bounces back from his own miscalculations, the movie boasts an anti-hero who inspires hopes.
05/16/08
Chop Shop has the feel of a foreign film, but what is most likely to horrify audiences is that it's set in America.
05/09/08
Bahrani blurs the line between New York reality and fiction so effectively that his scripted films feel vibrantly authentic, as if Bahrani had simply discovered his characters and allowed their lives to proceed with a minimum of directorial intrusion.
04/18/08
The ambiguous fates awaiting Alejandro and Isamar are resonant and unforgettable.
04/15/08
Beautifully observed, and beautifully acted by the novice thespian Polanco (culled from a New York City public school), Chop Shop is at once a heartbreaker and a story of hope and the American Dream.
04/11/08
Top Critic The director has created a not-to-miss gem for the discriminating viewer.
04/10/08
Top Critic Bahrani deftly walks a tightrope toward insight, never falling into safety nets of judgment or unearned sentiment.
03/28/08
Top Critic
Top CriticLatest News for Chop Shop
December 08, 2008:
Roger Ebert Ranks 2008's 20 Best Films 
December isn't even halfway over yet, and many of us have already had our fill of year-end lists -- but Roger Ebert's list of the 20 best films of 2008 is one worth making an... More...
February 28, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Semi-Pro is Semi-Good, Boleyn Girl Not Quite Movie Royalty
This week at the movies, we've got hapless hoopsters, snouted socialites, and scandalous siblings. What do the critics have to say? More...
February 27, 2008:
End-of-innocence flick features orphans surviving on a vast industrial wasteland.
More...
Related Forums for Chop Shop
(2008 release)-Ramin Bahrani's CHOP SHOP opens theatrically in the USA on Feb 27th!!!
by: ReelReviewer.com 1/7
by: ReelReviewer.com 1/7
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
 27% |
Eagle Eye |
 78% |
Burn After Reading |
| 53% |
Mamma Mia! |
| 94% |
The Dark Knight |
| 42% |
Death Race |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 21% |
Righteous Kill |
| 07% |
Babylon A.D. |
| 09% |
Bangkok Dangerous |
| 02% |
Disaster Movie |
IGN RSS Feeds