QUEENS KID

Chop Shop interview with Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani looked ecstatic when his sophomore feature, Chop Shop, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Turning around to face the cheering crowd, the New York–based filmmaker was greeted by an enthusiastic Abbas Kiarostami, the Iranian auteur whose neorealist aesthetic had a profound impact on the 32-year-old Bahrani. His debut, 2005’s Man Push Cart, told the solemn story of a fallen Pakistani rock star resigned to selling coffee on the streets of New York. Chop Shop (opening this week at Film Forum) is another localized tragedy, documenting the struggles of an impoverished 12-year-old Latino (Alejandro Polanco) slaving away in a Queens-based auto-body shop and coping with the desperation of his older sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). Bahrani discussed his original method and the larger purpose of his art.

Read the rest of the interview in New York Press...