A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Writer and director Dito Montiel was reluctant to cast nm0479471 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.,In the 1980s scenes on the subway, scanning the rooftops, you can see many cellphone towers.,Dito: In the end - just like I said - I left everything, and everyone. But no one, no one has ever left me.,At the very end of the credits, after the logo graveyard, there is a short bit with the real Monty.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Prestige/Flicka/Marie Antoinette/Flags of Our Fathers/A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006),Native 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,First time director Dito Montiel's "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" is a harsh autobiographical look back at his youth on the mean streets of Astoria, Queens in the mid 1980's. From the film's opening moments, Montiel introduces us to an intimate world of family and friendship that totally blindsided me by its greatness. There are moments in "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints" that roll along with such force and emotion, that Montiel feels like a natural born filmmaker, infusing his personal heartache into strong characters breathing within a vivid time and place. Montiel's handling of edits, sound, and music are also powerful, such as a scene in Dito's kitchen between his father and group of friends that explodes into stark images and quick cuts to black. Montiel also handles the return home of Downey Jr. with care and vulnerability, searching for small answers that come in revelatory conversations with his mother (Dianne Weist) and grown up girlfriend Dianne (played by Rosario Dawson). And while such personal material can be hard to translate without lapsing into melancholy, Montiel finds a way to craft a clear eyed version of his life, allowing strong acting and electric film-making to take over the balance of the experience. I love finding unheralded gems such as this. The name of Robert Downey Jr. brought me to the theater and I discovered a true talent in Dito Montiel who has crafted one of the finest directing debuts in several years,