A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

An artsy biopic akin to Everything is Illuminated, but much more gritty. A writer takes on his childhood and the people he left behind.

Shia LaBeouf and Robert Downey Jr. switch off playing the young and older Dito, a guy from Astoria, NY. Dito comes to realize that his surroundings of violence, drugs, and hopelessness are not what he wants for himself and decides to abandon it all as well as his family. When he returns 15 years later, he realizes what these misfits meant to him and how they essential liberated him.

What really is impressive with this film is the acting. All of the characters are believable in their roles - even Downey, who has been consistently playing somewhat neurotic detective types. The emotional confrontations are very impacting as we begin to realize the tragic circumstances that led to Dito abandoning his home.

Truth: We hurt the ones we love the most, not out of a desire to hurt them, but by acting out of a fear that they might not love us in return.

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