Roger Ebert Called This Extremely Low-Budget Drama One of the Greatest Films of the 2000s

At the end of the 2000s, Roger Ebert published his list of the 10 best films of the decade for the Chicago Sun Times. It was the final ranking the beloved critic would assemble before his death in 2013, and it was as eclectic as would be expected. Included in a list that encompassed such heavy hitters as Synecdoche, New York, The Hurt Locker, and 25th Hour, Ebert selected a low-budget drama that probably flew under the radar of most casual moviegoers: Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop. Ebert called the film, "a vibrant modern equivalent of the Italian Neorealist classics like Shoeshine," and declared Bahrani to be, "the new director of the decade."