American ethnographies: 'Chop Shop,' 'Margot at the Wedding'

It is sort of astounding to think that two films as diverse as "Chop Shop" and "Margot at the Wedding" might somehow fall under the same rubric of "American Independent Filmmaking," and yet for most people (and at most cinemas), they likely do. Each is, in its own way, singular, a unique example of the writer-directors behind them.

"Margot at the Wedding" is the latest effort from Noah Baumbach (pictured right), who seems determined to chronicle with microscopic precision the peccadilloes of American intelligentsia, the literary set.

"Chop Shop" comes from director Ramin Bahrini, who co-wrote the screenplay with Bahareh Azimi. Bahrini's previous film, "Man Push Cart," chronicled an immigrant in New York City who operated a coffee cart and "Chop Shop," about a boy scrambling to survive amid the auto shops of Queens, continues in the same vein of telling stories rarely seen on screen.

They make an intriguing double bill, "Margot" and "Chop Shop." Both are, in their own ways, ethnographic films, exploring subcultures and mindsets and specific ways of living with exactitude, charm and curiosity.

Baumbach chronicles a family of intellectuals who have become so self-aware, so self-involved, that they have stopped progressing or growing, simply because they spend so much time examining themselves that they don't actually move forward anymore in their emotional lives. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh both turn in energetic -- and possibly award-ready -- performances that are at times difficult to watch for the way they so nakedly show people at their worst. Unlike Baumbach's previous film, "The Squid and the Whale," this one is more bitter than sweet, but still has the undercurrent of comedy that has made all of his films such a treat. 

In the best way possible "Chop Shop" often feels like a foreign film, in that it examines so precisely a world which I, for one, would otherwise know nothing about. The dust, grime and heat of the NYC junkyards it takes for its setting feel palpable, making the young protagonist's struggles to eke out a life for himself and his sister that much more vibrant.

The lead performance by Alejandro Polanco is really quite remarkable, as he conveys hope, innocence and the scars of hard-learned life lessons with grace and understatement. With "Chop Shop," Bahrani proves that "Man Push Cart" was no one-off fluke; he is a genuine filmmaker with a true voice.       

-- Mark Olsen

Photo: Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (L) and director Noah Baumbach attend the a party at the Toronto International Film Festival Party on September 11, 2007 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Getty Images for InStyle)