Review of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) by Mike I — 27 Jun 2009

I'm not going to lie to you, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is not an easy film to sit through. The story is all over the place, the cinematography will shake you up, and the vulgarity is set on rapid fire. Yet, the acting is phenomenal (Shia LaBeouf is particularly stellar) and there is just something about the film that compels a person to stick with it. This "something" may very well be an internal hope that things will turn out well or perhaps a respect for writer/director Dito Montiel who actually lived this intense story. Whatever it was that kept me in it, I'm glad for it as I've rarely had the opportunity to see such unique storytelling.

As for the title of the film, I love it . . . but confess it borders on false advertising. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints really isn't much of a guide. There is certainly a compelling story in the mix here, but it's so jumbled at times one wonders who are the saints and who are the sinners; truth be told, I think almost everyone in the film (and in reality) probably fall very squarely into both camps. Still, I think the power of the story was slightly lost by Mr. Montiel's lack of guiding his audience a bit more clearly through his own life. Granted, how many of us really have enough hindsight to offer a clear summary of how the things of our past add up to our present (let alone our future)? This said, however, I would have liked to see a few more of the lines connected throughout the course of the film.

I don't think I've ever seen a film shot or told quite like this one. I wouldn't recommend it to most, but if you love great acting, gritty stories, and don't mind being jostled about for 98 minutes, you could do far (far) worse than A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.