Coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fates by... Read allComing-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fates by various so-called saints.Coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. As his friends end up dead, on drugs or in prison, he comes to believe he has been saved from their fates by various so-called saints.
- Awards
- 8 wins & 9 nominations
Laila Liliana Garro
- Diane
- (as Julia Garro)
Peter Anthony Tambakis
- Young Nerf
- (as Peter Tambakis)
Anthony Tirado
- Street Corner Puerto Rican
- (credit only)
Steve Payne
- Beach Chair Guy
- (as Steven Payne)
Steven Randazzo
- Token Clerk
- (as Stephen Randazzo)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWriter and director Dito Montiel was reluctant to cast Shia LaBeouf in the role of young Dito because Montiel was intent on casting an unknown. After the first rejection, however, LaBeouf pushed for one more audition. He came into the casting office, punched a hole in the wall, and convinced Montiel that he could bring the requisite amount of anger to the role.
- GoofsIn the 1980s scenes on the subway, scanning the rooftops, you can see many cellphone towers.
- Crazy creditsAt the very end of the credits, after the logo graveyard, there is a short bit with the real Monty.
- SoundtracksNative New Yorker
Written by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer (as Sally Linzer)
Performed by Odyssey
Courtesy of The RCA Records Label
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Featured review
In this autobiographical coming-of-age piece, director Dito Montiel confronts his gritty past in Astoria, Queens. He tells the doomed story of a teenage boy who spends his days in the seedy hot crime-infested backstreets of 1980's New York City to the day when he leaves for California and does not return until twenty years later, when his father (Chazz Palminteri) is sick. The retelling is impressive and absorbing.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is bursting with the flair of a debut director, who is eager to employ a wide variety of techniques steadicams, punctured narrative, flashbacks, script interjections, dreamlike non-chronological editing and an uneven pace. The good news is that it channels Spike Lee's criminal Queens street style with fast-paced local jargon that recycles 'fuck' in every sentence and snaps and crackles like kindling in a fireplace between its many thug-like characters. Owing to its coming-of-age format, the story often stays wildly unfocused and you get the feeling many scenes do not serve a purpose other than to get us a feel for the venality with which things were run.
Nevertheless, the characters are all absorbing, especially the young versions of Robert Downey Jr, Eric Roberts and Rosario Dawson. One of these is Antonio a childhood friend of Dito's and local bully who does wonderful improvisation-like raw lines. The vast contingent of American preeteen fangirls who were lusting after Channing Tatum after his cheesy teen movies had put me off this actor at first, but it cannot be denied that he gives one of the most intense performances in the film as Antonio he is hard-edged, testosterone-fuelled and doomed. Robert Downey Jr. is remarkably toned down as the grown-up Dito, delivering sparse lines and abandoning his usual colourful style of acting.
Together the four Queens teens harass girls, beat up rival gangs, shoplift and give attitude to on-lookers and this is undoubtedly when it feels the most like Spike Lee Lite. Saints patiently crafts tension at several points in the story, and it prefers climaxes to continuity as bad events snowball into criminal messes, deaths and the final abandonment by Dito. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is an interesting and compelling story, recreated with deft strokes by local Dito Montiel.
Sting and Trudi Styler loved the script so much they went to great lengths to support the production, and Chazz Palminteri delayed the shooting of another film of his with money out of his own pocket just to be able to play the bruised father in the film. These should serve as marks of its success and most of all the commitment with which its cast approached the film.
7.5 out of 10
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is bursting with the flair of a debut director, who is eager to employ a wide variety of techniques steadicams, punctured narrative, flashbacks, script interjections, dreamlike non-chronological editing and an uneven pace. The good news is that it channels Spike Lee's criminal Queens street style with fast-paced local jargon that recycles 'fuck' in every sentence and snaps and crackles like kindling in a fireplace between its many thug-like characters. Owing to its coming-of-age format, the story often stays wildly unfocused and you get the feeling many scenes do not serve a purpose other than to get us a feel for the venality with which things were run.
Nevertheless, the characters are all absorbing, especially the young versions of Robert Downey Jr, Eric Roberts and Rosario Dawson. One of these is Antonio a childhood friend of Dito's and local bully who does wonderful improvisation-like raw lines. The vast contingent of American preeteen fangirls who were lusting after Channing Tatum after his cheesy teen movies had put me off this actor at first, but it cannot be denied that he gives one of the most intense performances in the film as Antonio he is hard-edged, testosterone-fuelled and doomed. Robert Downey Jr. is remarkably toned down as the grown-up Dito, delivering sparse lines and abandoning his usual colourful style of acting.
Together the four Queens teens harass girls, beat up rival gangs, shoplift and give attitude to on-lookers and this is undoubtedly when it feels the most like Spike Lee Lite. Saints patiently crafts tension at several points in the story, and it prefers climaxes to continuity as bad events snowball into criminal messes, deaths and the final abandonment by Dito. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is an interesting and compelling story, recreated with deft strokes by local Dito Montiel.
Sting and Trudi Styler loved the script so much they went to great lengths to support the production, and Chazz Palminteri delayed the shooting of another film of his with money out of his own pocket just to be able to play the bruised father in the film. These should serve as marks of its success and most of all the commitment with which its cast approached the film.
7.5 out of 10
- Flagrant-Baronessa
- Nov 21, 2006
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Tus santos y tus demonios
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $517,809
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $94,784
- Oct 1, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $2,035,468
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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By what name was A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) officially released in India in English?
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