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- This movie was intense. It's amazing that someone really lived this. Watching it gave me a headache.

Wow, this movie was powerful!!!!!

It is a coming of age story based on true events. Dito Montiel was a teenager in 1986, growing up in Queens, Astoria, NY. This movie spans over a really short period of time during a hot summer. And the events that take place, lead to Dito finally leaving & heading to Los Angeles where he becomes a writer. He is called home 15 years later by his mother because his father is very ill. And then you see his memories. Memories of his friends, girlfriend, home life. And all the violence that surrounded them!!! This movie was very gripping!! I really liked it, alot!!!!

Alot like my teens but without the violence, LOL!!!

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) - "Come on. You're not going anywhere, Dito." - Monty

Dito (LaBeouf) grows up in a tough NY neighborhood where life just gets crazier and crazier as he enters his middle teens. He finds himself being suffocated by his adoring father, victimized by his delinquent and increasingly violent friends, and haunted by a neighborhood goon. Dito's friendship with a Irish immigrant student catalyzes a dream of a different life. After multiple tragic events, Dito bolts for California.

Fifteen years later, Dito (Downey) is a successful author. His novel describes his experiences in the old neighborhood. While on his book tour, old friends track him down to let him know his father's health is failing, but the old man refuses to go to the hospital. Downey returns to face down old ghosts.

Ah, misery loves company. When you've got your arm in a trap, you've really only got two choices. You can lay there and slowly bleed to death, or wind your belt around your arm and hack it off. That's a tough thing to do and it was certainly uncomfortable to watch Dito struggle with his fate as the story unfolded. We've all felt that decision at one time or another. But the beauty of this story is the certain knowledge that if you escape a bad situation, one day (sooner or later) you'll be forced to return. You'll be a hero, but you'll also be known as the one that gave up on every person still caught in the trap.

"Saints" is based on the autobiography of the director. It reminds us: It's a small world. It also reminds us that if were one of the lucky ones to escape those childhood gravities, one day, we will return to the old neighborhood. If for no other reason than to ease the soul: To forgive... and to ask forgiveness.

Dito Monteil

Basket Case >> Campy, B-movie that is quite funny and cheesy (in a good way, of course).

Xchange >> Lackluster sci-fi film with an interesting idea that could have been better with better writing and direction.

Flags of our Fathers >> A fine war movie. Not necessarily a new "classic" however. Makes some good points about heroism and propaganda.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints >> Possibly could have been better if it wasn't an autobiography. A director with more experience and talent would have made a difference for the positive. The direction almost seemed pretentious but came off as amateurish. The story was not bad but wasn't anything new.

The Lookout >> Glad that it distanced itself from too many similarities to Memento. A good cast, characters, and writing save this from being the usual heist movie.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints



Where would 'Saints' be without its cast? Movie-less. That's where. It's clear from the opening scene that the film's cast was in charge, and if they fail, the movie fails. It relies so heavily on those involved, and I'm happy to say that the end result is the true spark to this film. Shia LaBeouf continues to make a name for himself, stepping into a profoundly mature role as the film's lead character. Profanity-laced as if Martin Scorsese was behind the camera, LaBeouf receives great support from swoonder Channing Tatum, who not only gets to show off his body but acting talents as well. The adult cast proves to be just as important, as Dianne West and Chazz Palminteri deliver dedicated performances as Shia's parents. Robert Downey Jr. is great as a grown Dito, and the beautiful Rosario Dawson graces us with her presence for a few moments.

There's little doubt in my mind that 'Recognizing Your Saints' could have been a much better movie. It doesn't become all that it sets out to be, but if there's one thing this film accomplishes perfectly, the cast is it. The real reason to see this movie is clear, for it's cast of young stars will one day make a big splash. In the end we're left with a well-meaning effort, but one you can't help but feel a slightly disappointed about. In like a lamb, out like a lion. That's what 'Saints' is.

Two-Word Review
Uneven Ambition

I still don't know exactly why I'm writing this commentary, living on the other side of the earth -- Moscow's over the ocean from Queens. Probably, because like many others, in my teens I had my own Astoria and my own best friend Antonio who got the same unenviable fate. Maybe because I also liked to aimlessly ride by subway's trains through entire city after school with my friends as Dito with Mike did - remember? - Just back and forth, back and forth. But in my city all the stations are deeply under the ground. Subway's Ring Line around the city center was the best one, it never ended, just kept circling, kept circling... Maybe because, unlike Dito, being a quite old pepper, I have not asked yet my father, whom or what he loves more -- me or his son's career.
Gosh, can't get rid of the feeling that all these guys - Dito, Antonio, Nerf - were the friends of mine lived next block in the far, far past, despite the different times and different worlds.

Anyway, as one smart guy said, we all originated from our childhoods. All our Ghosts or Saints are from there. And from time to time they resurrect within us. This film is about me too. This film is the coming-of-age saga of all of us leaving a part of ourselves stepping into our adult lives, "betraying" our old friends (Dito, this is your old friend Nerf...) in a naive wish to get the new and better ones. A kind of getting new personality at the expense of leaving all the former "saints" or rather making them out of our environment -- parents, buddies, schoolmates, girlfriends... No doubt, a lot of us have come through that; many tried to get back...in vain. Nobody can step twice into the same river. That's why this movie is the real kind of art called not blockbuster but CINEMA.

Dito Montiel as the debut film director is brilliant. Camera's work is just great! The play with light and shade (remember Dito's adult and boyish faces in the beginning as well as the scene at the bookstore?); wonderful close-ups and focus fixing; visual and sound effects; shots' composition; editing. The plot's structure as a narrative based on sudden flashbacks of events, situations, people, chatting; unexpected black screen interruptions of memory; the music covering actors' dialogues and reinforcing the emotional impression; simultaneous multi-themed conversations merging into a single noise making by a bunch of people who are not able to listen to and understand each other (Uncle George, she's not a swimmer, she sells food at the pool - Yeah A swimmer selling food at the pool // It's hot cause it's summer. Right, Antonio? - Stop teasing, Monty. We've gotta get a fan...- Yeah, it's summer -- We've gotta get a fan) - all these cinematographic "tricks" are truly splendid.

But the biggest luck of the film - its actors' cast. Robert Downey Jr. is wonderful! Unexcelled Chazz Palminteri as always second to none. Dianne Wiest - where have they hidden this treasure? Young but very, very talented Shia LaBeouf performed an astonishing play.

But most of all I was struck by Channing Tatum. It always seemed to me that Channing is the next countless clone of Freddie Prinze, Jr., such a typical new LA "cutie", you know. In AGTRYS, he revealed his hidden gift to be the talented drama actor! Amazing! His Antonio's role is the breakthrough one in his career, his real-life Step Up. Moreover, he transformed his so called supporting role almost into the main one. Great

All in all, it's the best 2006 US film I've recently seen.

Yet regardless of my problems I was nonetheless moved by this film. I wasn't sure if it would work for me halfway through, but in the end it did. My dad watched this with me, and walked out due to the language, but it didn't really bother me. It's a gritty film, no denying it, but its worthwhile and powerful one. A solid rental for sure.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a beautiful, brutal and moving film that is reminiscent of the early work of Martin Scorsese. I cannot believe this film went unnoticed last year. Another great American movie of the 2000s gets overlooked. It's the story of our decade.



Whenever the grittiness is about to go over the top, however, Montiel pulls back and beautifully reveals the quiet side to these people's lives. The furtive moments when the din of the city recedes and a boy is left to ponder his existence as he stares out the window of a 7 train at night. There are some wordless passages in Saints that are among the most poetic ever committed to celluloid.

While there are some of the most unpleasant scenes you'll ever want to see in a film, there are also some of the most loving. Some of the violence around Dito surely stems from hatred. But many explosions paradoxically stem from love. There's a scene on a train track between two brothers that I think I'll remember well into my 80s.

The love between Dito and Antonio, one of his neighborhood friends, is particularly deep, almost traumatically deep. Antonio simply cannot live with that much love inside him. It hovers over him like a curse, ultimately sealing his doom. I won't spoil it by giving away the details.

Antonio is played by the very talented newcomer, Channing Tatum. This young man is so commanding on the screen that it is impossible to take your eyes off him. Similarly heart-breaking is the performance Chazz Palminteri gives as Dito's father, another man consumed by a love he can't bear.

Robert Downey Jr does a good job playing Dito as a grown man, but he doesn't have too many scenes. Rosario Dawson is luminous as always, but she also doesn't get much screen time.

The reason I can only give Saints an 8 is that I felt Shia LaBeouf's performance was not quite deep or complex enough. This film needed an actor of Ryan Gosling's power in the lead role. And Shia LaBeouf, as good as he is, is no Ryan Gosling.

I also felt that the story needed another layer of complexity. I was very moved by the powerful love coursing through this community, and I loved how the dialogue captured working-class struggles to put feelings into words. But ultimately the themes were a bit too simple to really bring the film up to masterpiece levels.

But this film is a great achievement and should have been on everyone's Top 20 list for 2006. This is a must-see on DVD.