The Son of No One (2011) or, The Past Returns!

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Channing Tatum looks like he's hung over on the poster for Dito Montiel's The Son of No One

QUICK REVIEW:

John spends his childhood in the horrific Queensboro Projects in New York City, where he accidentally kills two scumbags, just as he is about to escape with his friend Vinnie. 16 years later, his past comes back to haunt him.

Son of No One starts really strong: Particularly compelling are the scenes of the young John and Vinnie, played by Jake Cherry (Hits (2014)) and Brian Gilbert (Last Night of the Year (2015)). Everything seems promising, but then it turns out that the script, by writer-director Dito Montiel (Boulevard (2014)), is loaded with problems, (and not the good kind):
Juliette Binoche (Godzilla (2014)) does well with a NY-accent, but the way she blurps out the title of the film in a line is a shame. SPOILER Later Al Pacino's (Heat (1995)) character's godson dies, who has done everything for him, yet Pacino just continues to scream plot-relevant lines to our lead Channing Tatum (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)). He acts for the third time in a Montiel picture here, following A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Fighting (2009). Tracy Morgan (30 Rock (2006-13)) appears in a dramatic part SPOILER as a character who is both schizophrenic and carrying out an extremely determined vengeance campaign at the same time, - not very believable either.
- Add to this the uninspired typecasting of Ray Liotta (Goodfellas (1990)) and Katie Homes (Jack and Jill (2011)).
The Son of No One is a jumbled film that could have been so much better.

Related review:

Dito Montiel: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) or, Leaving Home

While Dito Montiel's The Son of No One is undoubtedly a dubious film, - it does have Channing Tatum in uniform going for it

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 1.3 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[The film, shot on location in New York, closed Sundance to a poor reception that resulted in a changed ending. It got generally bad reviews and made a stunning low of less than 30k $ in the US. Impressively, Montiel has been heading two big films since: Empire State (2013) and Boulevard (2014), and soon Man Down (2015), an apocalyptic film.]

What do you think of The Son of No One?

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) - Montiel debuts with terrific autobiographical coming-of-age drama

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+ Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Channing Tatum + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Autobiographical Movie of the Year

The Italian poster for Dito Montiel's A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a nicely balanced creation

Dito is a young man who feels trapped in Queens, New York anno 1986 by friends without a future, a stupid dog-walking job, violence and a father, who has surrounded his son in a fortress of his love. - So Dito escapes.

The first 20 minutes of this film made me want to turn it off, because it portrays a gang of very antisocial brats; but if you begin watching and feel like I did, I implore you to stay with them even still, because the story will get to you. - With a vengeance. In the group of juveniles here, I especially recognized the deeply rootless Antonio (Channing Tatum (She's the Man (2006))), who is indeed a character that is hard to forget.
The film is borne by debuting great New-Yorker writer-director Dito Montiel's (Boulevard (2014)) personal involvement, - which is natural since this is based on his own same-titled 2001 memoirs, - and Montiel's various more or less smart inventions in the storytelling, along with stellar performances from in particular Chazz Palminteri (A Bronx Tale (1993)) as Dito's father, Shia LaBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)) as the young Dito, and Dianne Wiest (Cookie (1989)) as his mother.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is a strong coming-of-age drama about the universal theme of leaving your crib.

Related posts:

Dito Montiel: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Son of No One (2011) or, The Past Returns!

Watch a video of Montiel, Tatum and Palminteri talk about the film in between clips from it here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a huge flop
[A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints premiered in January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place mostly in the actual New York locations. Montiel has explained that most of the major characters are composites of different people he knew growing up. The film opened #41 in 8 theaters to a 94k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #40 and in 60 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 517k $ (26 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 483k $ (24.2 %) and Mexico with 323k $ (16.2 %). The film's budget was likely low, perhaps between 2-3 mil. $, which would still make it a huge flop. It was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards, won a National Board of Review award, 2 prizes at Sundance and 2 awards at the Venice Film Festival. Montiel returned with Fighting (2009). Robert Downey Jr. (Richard III (1995)) returned in The Shaggy Dog (2006); LaBeouf in Bobby (2006), and Palminteri in Push (2006). A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.57/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints?