Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 18, 2019

MVD Visual’s MVD Marquee Collection imprint may need to start a whole new sub-imprint devoted to films with absolutely incredible casts that even many diehard fans will not have heard of. I mentioned just such a situation with regard to the relatively recently reviewed Shade, and that same situation is once again on hand here, too, with a cast that includes Robert Downey, Jr., Dianne Weist, Chazz Palminteri, Shia La Beouf, Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson and Eric Roberts, with the added imprimatur granted by producing credits for Sting and Trudie Styler (Mrs. Sting, for those who are unaware). Unfortunately, as both Downey, Jr. and Styler allude to (and actually outright state ) in the making of featurette included on this disc as a bonus feature, the source material offered by scribe and director Dito Montiel brought with it a host of adaptive obstacles, and some may feel that those hurdles are not completely successfully navigated in this film full of interesting performances, but a kind of aimless story.

The film ping pongs back and forth between two time frames, including a "current" day story involving Dito (Robert Downey, Jr.) as an adult writer who is asked by his long suffering mother Flori (Dianne Weist) to return back home to Astoria in Queens because Dito's father (and Flori's husband, of course) Monty (Chazz Palminteri) is quite ill but doesn't want to go to the hospital. The film wallows in a kind of "you can't go home again" ambience while it also offers a number of interstitial flashbacks to the 1980s, where a younger Dito (Shia LaBeouf) has to contend with both a dysfunctional family dynamic, but also a gaggle of "colorful" characters populating his neighborhood. The film struggles to knit together these two eras, and instead probably works better when taking individual vignettes on their own merits. There's a "kitchen sink drama" to this enterprise that may appeal to those who like their stories close-knit and on what feels like the semi-improvised side of things.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a generally decent looking transfer that nonetheless can't quite overcome some lingering issues with shadow definition in a number of rather dark or dimly lit scenes. When the film ventures outside during the day, or takes place in brightly lit interior environments, the palette warms appreciably and detail levels also improve. There are some noticeable variations in overall color temperature and densities, and there are a number of small signs of age related wear and tear on display in the form of speckling and small nicks.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While the surround track here is offered only in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, there is an LPCM 2.0 track that's also available. The film has a probably expected glut of source cues, and those sound rather vibrant throughout the audio presentation. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly, and the urban setting allows for ubiquitous ambient environmental effects documenting the busy street life, especially in some of the 80s material.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Shooting Saints: The Making of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (480i; 20:10) has some engaging interviews with the real life Dito Montiel and producer Trudy Styler.


• Full Monty Interview (480i; 1:33) is a brief piece with Dito's real life father, who is frankly a little difficult to make out.


• Young Laurie Audition Tape (480i; 1:52) features Diane Carcando.


• Deleted Scenes all feature optional audio commentary by Dito Montiel:

  Little Boys, Chazz and Fireflies (480i; 1:04)

  
  

  Greek Feast Scene (480i; 1:48)

  
  

  Little Boys at Murder Scene (480i; 00:41)

  
  

  Lawyer Scene with Dito and Antonio's Father (480i; 1:34)

  
  

  Giuseppe on the Mets (480i; 1:57)

  
  

  Mime Seizure Scene (480i; 2:52)

  
  

  Salvation Army Box (480i; 1:10)

  
  

  Pocketful of Seeds <480i; 1:05)

  
  

  Puppet Show (480i; 1:23)

  
  

  Full Puppet Show (480i; 1:23)

  
  

  Full Nerf Parked Scene (480i; 4:23)

  
  

  Full Rooftop Scene (480i; 6:02)

  
  Note: There's a kind of curious authoring error on these scenes. There's a Play All button, but it rather oddly goes to the brief clip of Monty (see above) rather than the Full Rooftop Scene after the Full Nerf Parked Scene ends.

• Alternate Openings and Endings also feature optional commentary:

  Alternate Opening in the Bookstore (480i; 3:53)

  
  

  Alternate Ending 1: I Write (480i; 1:59)

  
  

  Alternate Ending 2: Full Antonio Scene (480i; 4:41)

  
  

  Alternate Ending 3: Fireflys (480i; 2:04)

  
  

  Alternate Ending 4: Robert Downey, Jr. and Rosario Dawnson [sic] with Little Boy (480i; 00:55)

• Trailers includes the following three trailers for this film along with trailers for other MVD releases:

  A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Theatrical Trailer 1) (480i; 2:33)

  
  

  A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Theatrical Trailer 2) (480i; 2:20)

  
  

  A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Theatrical Trailer 3) (480i; 1:14)

  
  Note: There's another authoring error here, though it's a bit more "hidden". If you try to chapter skip ahead during the first trailer, it actually forwards to the Greek Feast Scene as outlined above, eventually exiting out to the Deleted Scenes submenu. Just letting the first trailer play bounces you back to the Trailers submenu.

• Audio Commentary featuring Director Dito Montiel and Editor Jake Pushinsky can be found under the Setup menu.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are some committed performances in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, but the film kind of wanders aimlessly and never builds to much of an emotional catharsis. Fans of this cast will probably find things to like about this film even if it doesn't completely hang together. Technical merits are generally good if not outstanding and the supplementary package interesting for those considering a purchase.