Critic's Corner

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

</i>A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints</i> is a movie based off the novel of the same name by Dito Montiel, who also directs the film itself. The plot of the film follows a younger Dito as he comes of age in a bad neighborhood in Queens, New York and how the people close to him shaped him into the person he is. This is all dispersed amongst scenes of an older Dito returning back to his neighborhood after 20 years, and remembering what those people meant to him.

The plot itself is rather simple but the true depth lies within the characters themselves.

The film seems disjointed and a little hard to follow at some points but that symbolizes the very concept of human memory. Nothing can be remembered in its entirety, overtime pieces are forgotten or embellished but the emotions that it invoked remains the same and the movie captures that aspect.

The raw emotion is conveyed beautifully by the cast. Their interaction is so organic that it really has you convinced that these kids grew up together. As always Shia LaBeouf pulls off a stunning performance as the younger Dito, driving home the emotions and helping you to establish empathy toward the character as he comes to grips with a father’s rage and a father’s love.

Winner for Best Ensemble and Best Director at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, this film is very much worth the watch. But keep in mind that if you are offended by cursing then this isn’t the movie for you.

In the end I left everything and everyone but no one, no one has ever left me… ~Dito Montiel.