Strong dramatic portrayal of the difficult life in a threatening environment
Good camera work and talented actors provide an excellent film script
with realism and drama. Territorial issues within family, friends and neighborhoods keeps the audience on the edge. Having grown up in South Queens in the 1940's, in the low middle income, single home South Ozone and Ozone Park neighborhoods, I always felt it gave me a fulfilling, enjoyable place from which I could move on and move up economically. What a difference with Astoria in the 80's. There seemed to be no way out for most children and daily life was lived on the edge. The author's struggle with these conditions is a stimulating theme. I got more from the younger Dito's acting than I did from the mature Downey, although the latter rescues the finish. I recommend the movie to all who can accept the strong language as indicative of the neighborhood's limitations and the restrictions that keeps everyone from expressing themselves more intelligently. Chazz Palminteri was especially effective and it brought me back to some of the fathers of my teenage friends. It also reminded me of how I could have an adventurous ride on the elevated and subway lines from Queens, through Brooklyn & Manhatten, on to the Bronx and back, all for a nickle and then a dime.. 
A wonderful film from a director with a bright future
Having a serious movie set in the middle of the 80s is usually a bad
idea, and runs the task of having to escape the kitsch style culture of bad hair and electro-style rhythms. So the way Dito Montiel overcomes that is by giving his semi-autobiographical movie a 1970s soundtrack (Velvet Underground, KISS) and giving everyone a hairstyle to suit 2007. A Guide To Recognising Your Saints focuses on Dito, a writer from LA, who travels back to his childhood neighbourhood of Astoria, Queens, after receiving a phone call from his mother. She tells him that his father is ill, and refuses to see a doctor. Dito hasn't been back to Queens in 15 years, not since he up and left without saying goodbye any of his friends. The film then flashes back to 1986, when Dito was just a teenager. It focuses on his relationship with girlfriend Laurie, his hotheaded buddy Antonio, and new friend, and potential music partner, Mikey. We know from the beginning that he left Queens, and these flashbacks, intertwining with the present day, are attempting to explore why he left, and how he can try and patch things up with his family and former friends. A Guide To Recognising Your Saints is kind of how A Bronx Tale would look were it shot by Larry Clark. Shot on digital camera, with an ambient-style score, Montiel has made a gritty urban teen thriller with a strikingly arty feel. Most of the dialogue feels improvised, and even if a lot of the characters are relatively low-life'd individuals, the energy of the performances, and the excellent direction allow you to become effortlessly invoked into their world. Montiel clearly has a very bright future ahead of him.. |
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