Movie Review: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Apr 25th, 2008 by admin
- Director: Dito Montiel
- Genre: Cirme/Drama
- Year: 2006
I’m falling behind again with my reviews, wouldn’t you know it, it is the end of the month when work piles up and I can not do the fun stuff that I would normally give preference to. In either case, it is a shame that i review this move a few weeks after I have watched it, because all the little details will have left me by now, I am sure. However, my mind has not been changed in regards to this film.
The story deals with a now accomplished writer, riding the waves of success of his autobiographical book “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” which tells the story of his childhood and the living situations that forced him to leave everything he grew up with behind, including his family. Though, as his father falls ill and he is asked to go back and try to convince him to go to the hospital, Dito realizes that he has not quite patched up his past as well as he had allowed himself to believe. And so, as he goes back to his original stomping grounds, he is forced to face the ghosts of his pasts, some of which are not very pleasant.
This is a pretty powerful movie by first time writer and director Dito Montiel, who is in essense making an autobiographical movie that relates his story after writing his autobiographical book. It has many sobering moments, filled with violence that is more often than not implied (which is a good thing) and raw sexuality that is not always implied. Not a movie for the feint of heart, the language can get edge and there are some adult situations and disturbing moments that would make most audience members cringe, but if you have the stomach for an honest bit of story telling, you really need not look further.
I leave this off with a comment, there is some really good cinematography here and I personally enjoyed the editing style. The acting is superb pretty much all around, though I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Robert Downey Jr, who once again shines. There are a few things on sound editing that I found odd and a couple of questionable moments that I could have done without. These, however are minor details that should not detract from the movie in the least.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: Violence, sexuality and heavy language.