ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

SCOTTISH ACTOR Martin Compston is in danger of becoming a major international star. Discovered by Ken Loach for ‘Sweet Sixteen’, he served a useful apprenticeship on ‘Monarch of The Glen’.

He is constantly improving as an actor and a screen presence, giving a BAFTA-nominated performance in ‘True North’.

Now, he has his first significant role in an American film, and shines as part of the young ensemble cast in ‘A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints’. Heavily influenced by Martin Scorsese films like ‘Mean Streets’, ‘A Guide’ is Dito Montiel’s autobiographical portrait of the friendships created and destroyed during a volatile summer in Queens in 1986.

The story begins in the present day as the adult Dito (Robert Downey Jr) receives a phonecall telling him that his father Monty (Chazz Palminteri) is dying.

Seeking some form of deathbed reconciliation, the prodigal son returns home, and his mind returns to that Summer and his close ties to hot-headed tough guy Antonio (Channing Tatum), Nerf (Pete Tambakis) and Mike O’Shea (Martin Compston), a Scottish classmate that the world seems to delight in calling Irish.

Although it deals in familiar tales of loyalty and betrayal and the bittersweet ties of friendship, ‘A Guide’ displays a certain swagger and rawness that keep you engaged.

The film’s strength lies in a strong ensemble cast, with Shia La Beouf playing the young Dito as a slightly guarded figure, observing and assessing his life even as it unfolds around him.

Melonie Diaz also impresses as his girlfriend Laurie, and Compston shows the kind of charisma and commitment that should ensure a whole raft of American offers to tempt him away from our shores. Our loss could be Hollywood’s gain.

Selected nationwide release

Director: Dito Montiel
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Shia LaBeouf, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, Channing Tatum, Martin Compston
Screenwriter: Dito Montiel
Certificate: 15
Running time: 100 mins
Country: USA
Year: 2006

© Allan Hunter, 2007