Chop Shop: Of hopes and hubcaps
My review of "Chop Shop" is in the Chicago Sun-Times and on RogerEbert.com. Here's an excerpt:
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.
As day laborers stand by the side of a busy road, we don't see the road, but we can hear the traffic. Their heads turn as a truck pulls up off-camera, and they rush over to be chosen for work. The driver, speaking English, selects a few guys and tells a kid he doesn't need him. Just as the truck pulls back out onto the highway, the kid hops into the pickup bed. He needs the work. Wherever this is, it's a Third World economy.
Second shot: The truck rolls past the camera, and we see the kid sitting up in the back. Third shot: The truck pulls over, and we notice the Chrysler Building, then the Empire State Building, in the distance. The driver gets out, lifts the protesting kid out of the back of the Chevy, gives the kid some money out of his own pocket and tells him to buy himself breakfast. Then the title of the movie appears....
Three shots in two minutes and we know so much about this boy's toughness and resilience, the industrial gray-market conditions to which he has adapted and -- despite his confidence and self-reliance -- his inescapable dependence on the adults around him. The 12-year-old Ale (Alejandro Polanco) is an accomplished hustler, whether reselling bags of candy on the subway with a polished sales pitch or stealing hubcaps.
Continue reading full review here.
Comments
Of all the movies I saw at AFI in November, Chop Shop I think has stuck with me the longest.
There were so many chances for Bahrani to take the obvious political route with a big bold message about poverty or immigration or take your pick, but I think he's made a stronger and more universal film by sticking to his mission of providing a slice of life.
It's so simple yet manages to play a whole range of emotions.
That it traffics in such bleakness, but ends on a hopeful note that doesn't feel contrived or unearned, makes it all the more amazing.
Posted by: Craig Kennedy | March 21, 2008 04:31 PM
I saw this a few days ago. One of the better films I've seen for awhile, and quite probably the best I've seen from this year, so far.
Despite your praise for the opening, it wasn't until about 25 minutes in that things really started to click for me.
Posted by: Rob | March 28, 2008 05:22 AM