The City is New York, the borough is Queens, and the neighborhood is Willets Point. There, looming within the shadows of a major league ball park for a team that I shall not name due to my retirement from baseball fandom dwells an array of junkyards, grime, Puerto Rican cuisine, Hasidic Jews, working class handymen, illegal aliens, druggies, hustlers, family - community. It is here where directors Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki set up shop to assemble their observational film of everyday urban life.
Being only 6 years removed from the New York borough of Queens that I once called home I might have had some bias going into this film that would lead me to sway my opinion to that of a most favorable one, but I challenge any other critic, even those who have never visited Queens and whose only definition of the “Iron Triangle” is either that of the musical instrument or the Communist stronghold region Northwest of Saigon during the Vietnam War to not give this film the just praise it so rightfully deserves. For the record, The Iron Triangle is the street name given to Willets Point, the neighborhood at the heart of Foreign Parts.
The power of this film lies in the casual way in which it follows its humans and their surroundings. There’s a sense of authenticity captured within the lens of each frame that most observational documentaries set out to achieve but rarely do. This authenticity is most prevalent in every camera weave that exits and enters a scrap metal lot, in the following of locals shot from behind as they cross dirt roads infested with potholes, and in the way in which the camera dances around one of the homeless residents at her birthday party. These naturally orchestrated moments are evident as a testament to the power of observational documentarian filmmaking at its finest. It’s amongst this vast mechanical scenery and landscaped photography of countless auto shops and auto parts that the human stories truly shine in a light that is neither exploitive nor disrespectful.
The proverb “One man’s garbage is another mans’ treasure” rings especially true when applied to this film, both in the film’s theme and visual presentation. Overall, Paravel and Sniadecki’s two-year chronicling, and what I can only imagine to be some gruelling editing, of Willets Point paid off.
Showtimes for Foreign Parts:
Saturday, April 23 2:15pm (PFA – Berkeley)
Thursday, April 28 9:00pm (New People VIZ)
Friday, April 29 1:15pm (Kabuki)
Sunday, May 1 6:45pm (Kabuki)
