A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a 2006 American drama film based on a 2001 memoir of the same name by author, director, and musician Dito Montiel, which describes his youth in Astoria, New York during the 1980s.

Montiel wrote and directed the film adaptation, which was released in the United States in September 2006 and in Europe in March 2007.

One day, after being urged by his mother, Flori, and his friend, Nerf, Dito visits his childhood home, Astoria, New York, because his father has suddenly become very ill.

1986: Antonio, an overconfident, volatile boy with an abusive father, eventually kills someone: the Puerto Rican gang member Reaper, as payback for an attack on young Dito.

Giuseppe lies on a subway track; in spite of urgent warnings from his brother Antonio and Nerf, that a train was coming, he failed to get back on the platform and was killed.

Present Day: Dito visits the adult Antonio in prison and sees him as a changed man of wisdom.

Once he got to audition for the role, he "fucked his office up," putting a "hole through the wall" and went as "crazy" as he could in order to change the image Montiel had of him to land the part.

"[4] In the book, a copy of a newspaper article describing Antonio's escape from Rikers Island has the crime he committed blanked out.

The site’s critics consensus reads, "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a lively, powerful coming-of-age tale with winning performances and sharp direction from first-timer Dito Montiel.