ANDREW KILLGALLON

Arts and Cultures Editor

According to state records, Willets Point in Queens, NY only has one citizen, Joe Ardizzone. Ardizzone has lived in Willets Point for all his life and has been fighting the state of New York for his junkyard neighborhood that houses many homeless people.

The city now wants to take their neighborhood away from them.

“Foreign Parts” centers around a few of the many residents of Willets Point who know nothing outside their streets of auto parts and automotive shops.

They live at the lowest poverty level and most have some sort of knowledge about auto repair in order to get by. Questionable activities occur around every corner yet the feeling of community is strong.

The introduction of the film is long yet entertaining. Ardizzone is introduced as the ‘educated’ man of the makeshift city and is ready to fight to save all he knows. Unfortunately, Ardizzone is clueless when it comes to the inner workings of his local government.

People of the junkyard place blame on everything from the airplanes that constantly fly overhead to the fans of the Mets who flock through their junkyard to get to their beloved Citi Field.

Directors Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the people of Willets point. They obtained a level of trust from the inhabitants that enabled them to get deep inside of the minds of the people.

From the joys of the ice cream truck to the homecoming of an incarcerated husband, Paravel and Sniadecki gives the film a raw, inside look into a world most turn their heads at.