“miraculous... an American film with the raw power of City of God or Pixote… unexpected, and inspired, and brave.”
Roger Ebert
“faint echoes of ‘Bicycle Thieves’… Touching, funny, sad and beautifully observed.”
Geoff Andrew, TIME OUT LONDON
“A flawlessly observed piece of street realism, and an unforgiving parable of American economic reality.”
Jonathan Romney, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
Widely praised at the Cannes, Berlin and Toronto Film Festivals, CHOP SHOP is the second remarkable feature from the internationally acclaimed young director Ramin Bahrani, who was recently hailed “the new great American film director” by eminent critic Roger Ebert.
On the outskirts of Queens, and just steps from some of New York’s most iconic landmarks, Alejandro, a tough and ambitious Latino street orphan on the verge of adolescence, lives and works in a ‘Chop Shop’ - an illegal workshop breaking stolen cars for the purpose of selling them as parts. In this ramshackle world of mud, rust, graffiti, and twisted scrap metal populated by illegal immigrants and low-level adult criminals, young Alejandro struggles to pursue his goal of making a better life for himself and his spirited 16-year-old sister, Isamar.
Intimate, heartbreaking and yet ultimately uplifting, CHOP SHOP is a masterwork of low-budget precision and improvisation in portraying a child navigating his way through a chaotic adult world in search of his own slice of the American dream.
Bonus features include an exclusive interview with director Ramin Bahrani, rehearsal footage, stills gallery and trailer.
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