I hadn’t realized until recently how many outstanding movies are released every year that go completely unnoticed.
It’s usually the ones that are self-produced by the star or director and are only shown at film festivals or limited releases in New York and Los Angeles that we never get to experiance.
It’s become my new mission to seek out these movies that I would normally miss and enjoy them just as they were meant to be. This time around it’s A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints
A Guide… is the autobiography of a man named Dito Montiel. When he was younger, Dito (Shia LaBeouf) ran the streets of Astoria, New York with his hoodlum friends. Him, his older friend Antonio (Step Up’s Channing Tatum) along with his brother, and the rest of the neighborhood kids would try to get into as much trouble as humanly possible. Whether it be smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol, or terrorizing the nearby subway clerk, all they wanted was a release from their everyday strife. After taking the advice of a new classmate, Dito made the decision to get away from his dead-end life and attempt to make something better of himself. Unfortunately, problems arose before he left. Now in his late thirties, Dito (now played by Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to revisit his past when he flies back to the old neighborhood to help out his ailing father (A Bronx Tale’s Chazz Palminteri) who he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years.
Driven by a cast of movie veterans and up-and-comers, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints is a textbook ‘coming of age’ movie. You see a young man who only knows the bad in life try to finally make good. You see him learn from his mistakes and the misfortunes of the people around him. You see him become a man before it was expected of him. The formula isn’t new, but with acting giants like Robert Downey Jr. and Chazz Palminteri, it’s highly effective. The big highlight in this movie is the acting done by Hollywood’s new fresh face, Channing Tatum. After a stiff showing from Tatum in Step Up and She’s The Man, I didn’t expect him to have the talent to tackle the role of an abused adolescent with such believability. Independent films always seem to bring the best out of actors, and this film is no different. If you can find it, rent it.
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