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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

What Do You Mean, You Haven’t Seen Chop Shop?

posted by on April 23 at 15:43 PM

This awesome, incredible movie is getting exactly four more screenings: 7 and 9 pm, tonight and tomorrow at Northwest Film Forum.

Chop Shop

Chop Shop

This exquisite verité film (from Ramin Bahrani, the director of the equally fine but totally demoralizing Man Push Cart) is about Alejandro, a 12-year-old mixed race street kid who dreams of owning a taco truck. Ale’s will to live and work seems superhuman—until he catches his beautiful older sister giving truckers blowjobs for $40 a pop. You can almost see Ale’s worldview start to crumple. Chop Shop is flawlessly shot, and you won’t soon forget the primary location, a muddy stretch of industrial Queens near Shea Stadium. Best of all, though, are the characters, most of which are played by non-professionals. There is no precedent for the natural intensity of this film in the history of American independent cinema. It will make you treasure life. (Annie Wagner)

I also highly recommend interviews with the director, an Iranian-American who was born in North Carolina and graduated from Columbia before moving to Iran for three years to learn to make movies. Greencine has an excellent, influence-heavy one, IFC’s is a bit more political, and The Fader goes deeper into the location. Bahrani wants your kids to see the movie too—just be prepared to answer questions about what Isamar was doing in that man’s truck.

By the way, NWFF is holding an online auction for filmmakers and musicians right now—filmmaking advice from two-time Academy Award nominee James Longley is stalled out at $125! Bidding closes tomorrow at 6 pm.

RSS icon Comments

1

Yes! Go see this. Excellent film. Says the random Seattle resident that no one knows.

Posted by kurt | April 23, 2008 4:10 PM
2

More interviews here.

Posted by Adam | April 23, 2008 4:47 PM

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