Fresh
All these low-level criminal enterprises and idle dreams aren't happening in Mexico City or Kandahar; they're just outside Queens.
Noel Murray, AV Club
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Chop Shop
Overview
Alejandro, a tough and ambitious Latino street orphan on the verge of adolescence, lives and works in an auto-body repair shop in a sprawling junkyard on the outskirts of Queens, New York. In this chaotic world of adults, young Alejandro struggles to make a better life for himself and his 16-year-old sister, Isamar.
Director and cast
- Ramin Bahrani Director
- Alejandro Polanco as Ale
- Isamar Gonzales as Isamar
- Ahmad Razvi as Ahmad
- Carlos Zapata as Carlos
- Rob Sowulski as Rob
- Anthony Felton as Carlos's Uncle
- Evelisse 'Lilah' Ortiz as Evelisse 'Lilah' Ortiz
- Michael 'Gringo' Nieto as Construction Foreman
- Carlos Ayala as Carlos the Pigeon Worker
- Laura Patalano as Laura
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
97%
Tomatometer
Fresh
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.
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
Fresh
It's a sharp mixture of neorealist grit and lyricism.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Fresh
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.
Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh
Bahrani celebrates those who never give up, no matter how badly their dreams are shattered.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
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