CHOP SHOP — CANNES 2007

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Cannes, France — Director/co-writer Ramin Bahrani ("Man Push Cart") gives a candid window into America's impoverished underbelly via a Queens junkyard neighborhood called the "Iron Triangle." 

12-year-old Latino orphan Ale (Alejandro Polanco) plans for his future from a plywood room in the back a the auto repair garage where he works.

Uneducated but street-smart, Ale saves the money he makes to buy a food van for he and his newly arrived 16-year-old sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales) to operate.

Shea Stadium lurks over Ale's incessant ambition, and serves as a constant reminder of everything he doesn't have.

Isamar suffers equally from desperation, and builds her own nest egg with prostitution.

The "Chop Shop" of the film’s title insinuates the cobbled-together existence that Ale and Isamar share in the heart of a place where stolen cars are dismantled and sold for parts.

It’s a vision that looks more like a third world country than anything that television presents as the pinnacle of Western Civilization.

Not Rated. 84 mins.