A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Promotional poster for A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Directed by	Dito Montiel
Written by	Dito Montiel (screenplay & book)
Produced by	Clara Markowicz Charlie Corwin Trudie Styler Travis Swords Robert Downey Jr. co-producer Sting executive producer
Starring	Robert Downey, Jr. Shia LaBeouf Rosario Dawson Chazz Palminteri Dianne Wiest Channing Tatum
Cinematography	Eric Gautier
Edited by	Jake Pushinsky Christopher Tellefsen
Music by	Jonathan Elias
Distributed by	First Look Pictures
Release dates	September 29, 2006
Running time	98 min.
Language	English

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a 2001 memoir by Dito Montiel, in which he described growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s. It is also a 2006 film of the same name starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Shia LaBeouf.

Montiel also wrote and directed the film adaptation, which was released in the United States in 2006, in the UK and Europe on March 2, 2007 and in Italy on March 9, 2007. The DVD version of the film was released on February 20, 2007 in the United States.

The film is partly set in the present, but mainly in flashbacks in the 1980s. The latter parts are filmed with shaky camera with short shots.

Plot summary

Dito (Downey) is a successful writer in Los Angeles. One day, after being urged by his mother and his friend Nerf, goes back to visit his childhood home, Astoria, New York because his father has suddenly become very ill. The film switches back and forth between the present and flashbacks with his memories to the summer of 1986.

He meets Nerf, and talks with him in a parked car, where they can talk, not disturbed like they would in Nerf's home.

Further he visits Laurie (Rosario Dawson), his childhood sweetheart, who now has a child. They only talk through the open window, she does not let him in.

Finally he visits his parents; his father never listened to him, and did not want him to travel. He is angry at Dito that he left and never came back even for a visit, and sends him away. Dito leaves, but returns later to insist that he takes his father to the hospital.

Memories also go to Giuseppe, reckless, destructive, and possibly insane; once in the 1980s he stood on the subway track for bravour; in spite of urgent warnings of his friends that a train was coming, he failed to get on the platform and was killed.

Then there was Mike O'Shea, a Scottish boy who dreamt of becoming a musician; Mike and Dito planned to go to California with a cheap bus. They worked for a gay man with a business for walking dogs. They went to his house to collect the wages he was slow in paying. First he did not listen to them, but then he gave them all the money he kept in the refrigerator, more than he owed them. However, Mike was murdered by a gang of Puerto Ricans, after which Dito went alone to California.

Antonio (Channing Tatum), a confident, volatile boy with an abusive father, is still serving a life sentence for killing a Puerto Rican. Dito visits him in prison.

Another memory is that of one of the friends walking nakedly, with just his genitals covered by his hands, back and forth outside along a classroom during a class.

One interpretation of the title is that Dito begins to believe that he has been saved from his friends' fate by his saints. Alternatively, he comes to realize that his saints were his friends and family – Antonio, Laurie, Mike, his mother, and even his estranged father.

Anachronisms

Much of the film was set in the 1980s. However, it was filmed in 2006, and there are a few anachronisms:

• A phone booth seen in the background appears to be a Verizon phonebooth. Verizon did not exist until 2000, the owner of the phonebooth in 1986 would be NYNEX.

• Although the R train running through Astoria was accurate in the 1980s, there were a number of anachronisms with regard to the subway rolling stock seen. The R40 cars seen in the film in 1986 would have been in decrepit shape, covered with graffiti and lacking air conditioning. In addition, the flags seen on the cars were not applied until 2001, after the 9/11 attacks. Although one car has the accurate "two-tone M" logo of the New York City Subway, the "MTA New York City Subway" markings would not be applied until the mid-1990s. Finally, the R40 interiors are noticeably graffiti-free. In 1986, most R40 car interiors were covered from floor to ceiling in graffiti. However, the camera inside the cars focuses on the window scratchitti instead.

• Most elevated subway stations in 1986 would have been covered in graffiti. Although clean-up efforts had begun, the subway cars and stations seen in the film would not be cleaned up until around 1988 and 1989.

• The film mentions 1986 as the year when most of the childhood drama occurs; however, much of the characters and settings suggests at least a few years earlier, if not more. For example, the girls ask Dito if he is,"rock or disco", a question which would've fit in the very early 80s, though by 1986, disco was long since gone, and rock was king. "Asteroids" was popular in the early 80s, but was probably not influential in 1986.

• The person who Giuseppe is based on is still alive and living in Italy.

Cast

• Robert Downey, Jr....Dito
• Rosario Dawson...Laurie
• Shia LaBeouf...Young Dito
• Chazz Palminteri...Monty
• Dianne Wiest...Flori
• Channing Tatum...Antonio
• Eric Roberts...Older Antonio
• Adam Scarimbolo...Giuseppe
• Martin Compston...Mike O'Shea

Awards

List of wins and nominations

Sundance Film Festival

Year	Group	Award	Won?	Notes
2006	Director's Award	Dramatic, for Dito Montiel	Yes
	Special Jury Prize	Dramatic, for the ensemble cast	Yes	Shared between Robert Downey Jr., Shia LaBeouf, Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest and Channing Tatum
	Grand Jury Prize	Dramatic, for Dito Montiel	No

Gijón International Film Festival

Year	Group	Award	Won?	Notes
2006	Best Actor	Dramatic, for Adam Scarimbolo	Yes

Independent Spirit Awards

Year	Group	Award	Won?	Notes
2006	Best First Screenplay	for Dito Montiel	No	Lost to "Little Miss Sunshine"
	Best Supporting Male	for Channing Tatum	No	Lost to Alan Arkin for "Little Miss Sunshine"
	Best Supporting Female	for Melonie Diaz	No	Lost to Frances McDormand for "Friends With Money"

External links

• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Official Site
• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints on MySpace
• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Official UK Site
• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints UK on MySpace
• A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints on IMDb