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Poster for Chop Shop

Chop Shop

2008 · 1h 24m · Unrated Drama
Directed by Ramin Bahrani

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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

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
97%
Tomatometer
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
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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