A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
I caught this film only recently, and what attracted me to it was that it was about a bunch of boys growing up in Queens during the 80's. I being from that part of the world wanted to see what the story was about. I had no pre-conceived idea about the plot or the film itself, and I was thoroughly blown away by this little film that I had heard nothing about. Dito Montiel directs this movie from his novel "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints ", and he does so with a very dramatic effect. Robert Downey Jr plays Dito in present time. His mother phones him from Astoria Queens to tell Dito that his father is sick, and he needs to get to a hospital. As Downey heads to his dad we are slowly shown Dito's past & how he got to where he is. Shia LaBeouf plays the young Dito as he grows up on the means streets of Astoria. LaBeouf does a great job at portraying an aimless youth trying to scrape by day to day in a neighborhood of tough guys and bullies. His friend and defende...