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Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Rob Sowulski, Carlos Zapata, Ahmad Razvi ... see more see more... , Evelisse Ortiz , Farooq Muhammad , Laura Patalano

A street-smart orphan determined to make a better life for himself and his sixteen year-old sister spends his days working in an auto body repair shop in director Ramin Bahrani's gritty coming of age ... read more read more...drama. Alejandro may be a young boy on the verge of adolescence, but his tough persona and driving ambition give the impression of a man twice his age. As with many street kids Alejandro has been forced to mature before his time. Now, in a disheveled junkyard on the outer edge of Queens, New York, one boy will learn what it means to become a man as he sets out to build a brighter future for the only family he knows. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.

Directed by: Ramin Bahrani

Release Date: February 27, 2008

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DVD Release Date: July 8, 2008

Stats: 304 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (304)

  • paulsandberg
    July 24, 2011
    paulsandberg
    Chop Shop has that gritty, indie feel to it... probably because it IS an indie film. Written and directed by Ramin Bahrani who seems to have a great eye for capturing various slices of that great social experiment that is NYC. His prior works include Man Push Cart, the story of... read more an immigrant who makes his way by being a street vendor.

    Here Ramin trains his camera microscope cinema verite' style on the industrial area that abuts the old Shea Stadium. Full of small wherehouse spaces with roll up doors that are home to row after row of car repair shops; all dealing in cheap parts which may or may not have come into their inventory by suspicious means.

    At the core of the film is Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), a young ethnic hustler who "procures parts", and works the street, ushering prospective buyers towards his bosses' shop. On the side he is learning the craft of auto repair, especially painting and bodywork. His boss allows him to live in a small loft room at the back of the shop, and once he has secured the room, he makes contact with his semi-homeless older sister and invites her to share the room.

    We make discoveries about the sister, and see that family is very important to Ale. It is his dream to restore an old Roach Coach so his sister can cook and make a decent living instead of being the fetch it girl for another coach owner.

    The acting throughout seems very natural and there is a certain gritty, real feeling to the action, as if the camera was simply allowed to follow the characters around and record the day-to-day happenings. This is both a plus and a minus, as it gives the aforementioned realism but also allows for some editing issues.

    Still, the net result is satisfying and I felt invested in the character of Ale who keeps on keeping on in spite of a broken dream. When the film abruptly ends with no resolution you get the feeling that the intention was to let the viewer have a peek into the lifestyle around the chop shop before you hear the clanking of the metal door coming down and keeping you on the outside. Welcome to third world America.
  • itsjustme2004
    December 11, 2010
    itsjustme2004
    I liked it, but didn't love it. It doesn't even really feel like a movie; it's more like you are getting a glimpse into a child's poverty stricken life. It doesn't feel like Alejandro Polanco is acting, it feels like this is his struggling life. Has good camera work, good perform... read moreances and good direction, it just wasn't anything that I was expecting.
  • tsigur
    November 16, 2009
    tsigur
    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 moreto happen (as if being an orphan living over a garage isn't horrible enough), but what is surprising about this film is the surprisingly touching moments that happen in what are already dire situations. The cast of non actors are great. Alejandro Polanco (who plays the lead little boy in the film) is fantastic and has a great natural sense about him without it seeming cheesy. There are some times when you are reminded that they are not professional actors, but it really doesn't matter because I found myself being so wrapped up in the story. Well written and directed film by Ramin Bahrani.
  • ebs90
    July 26, 2009
    ebs90

    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 moreway possible. The scenarios in Chop Shop are so explicit and overwhelming that it's easy to take them for granted and overlook the true misery they imply.

    Alejandro is a little boy who works in an auto repair shop. He does his job fiercely, and he has all the savoir faire of a man who's been in the business for years. He lures costumers into his garage, directs them, learns all the tasks, and does some side "work" selling pirate DVDs and stolen parts. He aspires to having a business of his own and collects money to buy a battered truck for his sister, Isamar, to have her own mobile food stand.


    Alejandro interacts daily with hard-working mechanics just as well as car thieves and stolen parts dealers. He works overtime and eats only popcorn for dinner. However, his refusal to be swallowed up by this environment and his desire for a better life are monumental and never falter. The film documents some of his every day activities and struggles, failures and successes, but it doesn't bring a resolution; mainly, because I don't think any resolution could be satisfying. Alejandro has his undying will and energy to work, and little else.


    Perhaps one of Bahrani's objectives was to give way to this realization: Alejandro inhabits his unpleasant world with such vigor and expertise that I often forgot he is just a boy and definitely does not belong there. This reminded me of millions of Alejandros around the world, in every city and in every corner.


    I guess what I am aiming at, and it scares me a little to say it, because it's a word that should be used carefully regarding cinema, is that Chop Shop is very realistic. True enough, we've seen films about children either struggling or adrift in urban adversity. Some much more elaborate than Chop Shop; some grittier, some very pessimistic, some a little too hopeful. From Shoeshine through Los Olvidados and on to Slumdog Millionaire, the subject has been explored. However, I find Bahrani's perspective to be, so far, outstanding in its balance, as is his ability to refrain from suggesting conclusions. Also, he didn't write Alejandro as an immoral character or an overly moral one either, he just made him a boy, toughened by his circumstances, but a boy nonetheless.


    I know the characters in Chop Shop exist, I've seen them, and I understand that morality, in their circumstances, is confusing and a total mindfuck. In such precarious situations of poverty and in the desperation to climb out of them, moral choices are almost instinctive, they come from the core, from the most basic and untouchable place in the spirit, and the film conveys just that, through Alejandro's -and the other characters'- way of behaving in front of reality.


    As I said, the film hardly has a plot and it is made in documentary style, since it is but a recount of Alejandro's daily chores. The script excels to the point of my almost forgetting there was one. It's an intimate look into the life of this fascinating child, filmed in stark and dirty streets, and featuring many non-actors. Alejandro is played by Alejandro Polanco, and although some of his lines feel a little... well... acted... he is overall as natural and convincing, fast-talking and charming and heartbreaking as the character could've been. He is, obviously, the heart of the story.


    The magic of neorealism, for me, is that it doesn't make things easy for you: in spite of its rawness, it takes time and empathy to get involved emotionally with the characters. Ramin Bahrani's 21st century film follows along those lines, precisely in account of its outstanding realism. I think it's a truly original and challenging film and he is a director to keep an eye on, by all means.
  • dhetteix
    August 6, 2008
    dhetteix
    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 mores message... or realism ends up being used in the service of a simplistic moral message. Instead, Chop Shop delivers raw realism, and unabashedly complex morals on an bare-bones plot. Add its documentarian cinematic style, non-actors, and one of the most interesting and on-edge neighborhoods in New York City, and you have a gem of a film. We'll have to keep an eye on director Ahmad Razvi.
  • gator681
    March 3, 2008
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Chop Shop" starts with day laborers being hired by the side of the road in New York City but not the youngest one, Alejandro(Alejandro Polanco), who is looking for crawlspace work.(Why don't I like the sound of that?) He stows away but is soon discovered an... read mored is sent on his way with money for breakfast. While Alejandro's day usually consists of odd jobs(not attending school with other children of his age) including selling candy on the subway and pirated DVD's(and he is not above boosting the odd hubcap), he is based at one of the numerous auto body shops situated near Shea Stadium in Queens.(These same shops may soon be developed out of existence by the new ballpark being built.) He brings his older sister, Isamar(Isamar Gonzales), to live with him in the hope of saving up enough money to buy and run a food truck...[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Chop Shop" is a heartrending movie told without comment or sentiment about people who fall through the cracks of society. But unlike others, Alejandro has a plan that goes beyond just living day to day but that takes money. And there is a certain symbolism in the pigeons and airplanes flying overhead.[/font]
  • lesleyanorton
    May 16, 2011
    lesleyanorton
    12 year old boy makes home and living for elder sister in New York. Realistic drama which some will find fascinating and moving, but I found boring. I would have loved it as a documentary.
  • Dracula787
    January 5, 2009
    Dracula787
    As an amateur critic, I?m deprived a lot of things that my professional colleagues have access to, namely paychecks and advanced screenings. But another thing I miss out on is the film festival experience, the chance to hike out to places like Telluride and Toronto to watch smal... read morel movies for hours on end, and to get a feel for what filmmakers who are more than a little bit outside of the Hollywood mainstream are doing. Of course I could just hike out to places like Cannes on my own? but the aforementioned lack of paychecks tends to get in the way of that. But, while I?ve never been to the Sundance film festival, I do get the Sundance channel on my cable service, and that?s where I discovered a beautiful little film called Man Push Cart.

    Man Push Cart was a very small film set on the streets of New York; it followed an Iranian immigrant working out of a vending cart as he simply tried to make ends meet. It was a very good meditation on the American Dream. Man Push Cart introduced (a few) audiences to a very talented director named Ramin Bahrani, a man who is now one of the most promising talents in the independent film world. Earlier this year Bahrani released his second film, another slice of life about someone trying to survive in an unsavory area of New York called Chop Shop.

    The film follows Ale (Alejandro Polanco), a pre-adolescent orphan working at and living in the attic of a seedy Chop Shop in Queens. Ale has never gone to school, with no intention of being scooped up by child protective services his only means of survival is a life of (very) petty crime. He first works at the Chop Shop, but his criminal activity escalates throughout the film to include the sale of bootleg DVDs to theft. One day he learns that his sixteen year old sister Izzy (Isamar Gonzales) is going to come live with him in the Chop Shop attic. Once they reunite Ale tells her of an opportunity he has to buy a vending van, an object that could change their lives.

    Bahrani clearly takes inspiration from the Italian neorealists with his approach to filmmaking. He shows the stark realities of poor areas with stark, documentary-like filmmaking in real locations and from the use of non-actors. The grainy photography that categorized the movement back in the day has been replaced by sharp digital photography. I?ve come to admire the video-like look of some digital photography, it?s not pretty but it has the ability to see the world the way the human eye does, it?s stark, untouched, un-calculated; it?s the perfect medium for something that?s as gritty as the material here.

    The non-actors are also pretty good here, in that way non actors can be. Alejandro Polanco is consistently articulate and believable in his role as a street urchin, Isamar Gonzales isn?t quite as good as his sister, but she doesn?t hurt the film at all. Ahmad Razvi, who played the lead character in Man Push Cart, has a supporting role here. Razvi is a very good screen presence and it?s nice to see him getting more work (these two films are his only credited roles). A kid named Carlos Zapata plays Ale?s friend and fellow street kid.

    Chop Shop is a sad film, but it isn?t depressing. The world Ale lives in is a very unpleasant place for a kid to be in, but it doesn?t dwell on his misery, rather it?s about his struggle to improve his life through day to day work and saving. It?s another meditation on the American Dream from Ramin Bahrani, and I can?t wait to see what this man makes next.
  • cacutshaw
    December 30, 2008
    cacutshaw
    Interesting but fairly uninvolving slice of life drama about a young boy's life in a chop shop on the outskirts of NY. Maybe watching this so close after seeing the fantastic Slumdog Millionaire was a mistake. Chop Shop seems to be far more reality based than SM, but I enjoyed ... read moreBoyle's more creative film much more.
    It seems all the US critics are desperately searching for the American version of City of God, and have perhaps hyped this up more than it deserves, but despite it not being a masterpiece, it's worth seeing if the mood is right. And heck, they all can't be masterpieces anyway.
  • alienmindtrick
    August 7, 2010
    alienmindtrick
    If you ever feel like life has handed you lemons, you need to take an hour and a half and watch this film. This kid, Ale, played by Alejandro Polanco, is tough, gritty, hard working, a little street hustler, loves his sister, and tries to make their lives just a little bit bette... read morer. Izzy, played by Isamar Gonzales, is the loving sister who will do whatever she has to do help him do that.
    This is a hard film to watch viewed from the perspective of the reality that you feel coming through to you. There's nothing visually stunning in this film; it's raw, dirty, muddy, greasy, sweaty and reeks of bodily fluids automotive. But it will rivet you to your seat like few movies you've seen and for the same reasons that it's no prettier than the place it's set in.
    That a 12 year old kid would be homeless is bad enough, but that he has to do the same work as an adult makes you wonder whatever happened to sweatshop laws. At the same time, you almost feel like thanking the kid's employer for giving him an opportunity to work and a warm, secure place for the kid and his sister to sleep at nights. I have one of those itches that gets under your skin in places you can't scratch that's the manifestation of the reality that this movie is less fiction than story telling - and story telling in the sense that it's portraying true events.
    I've gotta give the kid Ale and the actor Alejandro mad props for this film. He waltzed, sambaed, limboed and break danced his way through this role. He's got a very natural presence on screen. Ramin Bahrani's direction was perfectly on the mark and I'll look to find more of his work. Rob Sowulski as the garage owner was great too, and you kind of hope there are some real Robs out there for kids like Ale.
    Wow, it just didn't seem like an hour and a half. In one sense, you feel like you're stuck in that time dilation phenomenon that happens when you're in a wreck or similar catastrophe, and in another you wish there were 90 more minutes of film. 'Chop Shop' will grab you and it will hold you and it very well may render you helpless to use your remote until it's over. Film with power like that doesn't come from Hollywood anymore, just from people like Bahrani.

View All Chop Shop Reviews

Critic Reviews

Andrew O'Hehir
July 9, 2008
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

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. Full Review

Michael Phillips
July 9, 2008
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

It's a sharp mixture of neorealist grit and lyricism. Full Review

Steven Winn
June 27, 2008
Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle

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. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
May 30, 2008
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Bahrani celebrates those who never give up, no matter how badly their dreams are shattered. Full Review

Wesley Morris
May 30, 2008
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

It's exciting watching Bahrani explore the possibilities of neo-realism to dramatize penury and disenfranchisement among the service-class in this country. Full Review

Steven Rea
April 11, 2008
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

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. Full Review

John Anderson
April 10, 2008
John Anderson, Washington Post

The director has created a not-to-miss gem for the discriminating viewer. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
March 28, 2008
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

Bahrani deftly walks a tightrope toward insight, never falling into safety nets of judgment or unearned sentiment. Full Review

J. R. Jones
March 28, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Tells the kind of New York story too often overlooked. Full Review

Jim Emerson
March 21, 2008
Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times

Three shots into Rahmin Bahrani's Chop Shop, and you're already pulled into its world with an effortless economy and precision that leave you no doubt you're in the best of cinematic hands. Full Review

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  • In the 2005 film Crash, what TV channel does the chop shop owner reference to when he says he won't take a bloody car?  Answer »
  • In Jason's Lyric what car did Jason's brother Josh steal to cash in on at the chop shop?  Answer »
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