A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
| A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster
|
|
| Directed by | Dito Montiel |
| Produced by | Clara Markowicz Charlie Corwin Trudie Styler Travis Swords Robert Downey Jr. Sting |
| Screenplay by | Dito Montiel |
| Based on |
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints by Dito Montiel |
| Starring |
Robert Downey Jr. Shia LaBeouf Rosario Dawson Melonie Diaz Eric Roberts Channing Tatum Chazz Palminteri Dianne Wiest |
| Music by | Jonathan Elias |
| Cinematography | Eric Gautier |
| Edited by | Jake Pushinsky Christopher Tellefsen |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | First Look International |
|
Release date
|
September 29, 2006 (limited) January 23, 2007 |
|
Running time
|
98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Box office | $2,035,468 |
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a 2006 American drama film based on a 2001 memoir of the same name by author, director, and musician Dito Montiel, which describes his youth in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. Montiel wrote and directed the film adaptation, which was released in the United States in September and October 2006 and in Europe in March 2007. The film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Montiel with Shia LaBeouf as a younger Montiel.
The film's narrative jumps frequently between 2006 and flashbacks from 1986 (filmed largely with shaky camera with short shots) with characters occasionally addressing the viewer.
Present Day:
Dito is a successful writer in Los Angeles. One day, after being urged by his mother, Flori, and his friend, Nerf, Dito visits his childhood home, Astoria, New York, because his father has suddenly become very ill. The film switches back and forth between the present and flashbacks with Dito's memories in the summer of 1986.
Dito meets Nerf, and talks with him in a parked car, where they can talk undisturbed, which would not have been possible at Nerf's house. Dito then visits Laurie, his childhood sweetheart, who is now a mother. They only talk through the open window; she does not let him in. Dito finally visits his father, Monty. Monty used to ignore Dito's feelings, and he didn't want Dito to travel. He is angry at Dito for leaving, and for not returning sooner to visit; he then sends Dito away. Laurie urges him to be a man and come to terms with his father, who was heartbroken when he left. Dito does leave, but returns later, to insist that he take his father to the hospital.
1986:
Antonio, an overconfident, volatile boy with an abusive father, eventually kills someone: the Puerto Rican gangmember Reaper, as payback for an attack on young Dito.
...
Wikipedia