Chop Shop

“Miraculous! Now we have an American film with the raw power of City of God or Pixote, a film that does something unexpected, and inspired, and brave.” –Roger Ebert

The remarkable Chop Shop follows the life of Alejandro, a tough and ambitious 12-year-old Latino street orphan who works and lives in the outskirts of Queens, New York, in a neighborhood known as the “Iron Triangle” for its 20-block stretch of junkyards and chop shops (where stolen cars are dismantled for parts). Through engaging and inventive filmmaking, Chop Shop creates an urgent portrait of a life lived on the most invisible margins of U.S. society and becomes the newest entry in a distinguished tradition of films ranging from the Italian neorealists up through the recently revived Killer of Sheep. (84 mins., 35mm)