''Least Among Saints'' is a 2012 American drama film written by, directed by, and starring

Martin Papazian Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...

with Tristan Lake Leabu,

Laura San Giacomo Laura San Giacomo (born November 14, 1962) is an American actress. She played Cynthia in the film ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Kit De Luca in the film ''Pretty Woman ...

and

Charles S. Dutton Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Roc (TV series), Roc'' (1991–1994) and the television film ''The Piano Lesson (film), The Piano Lesson'' ...

Plot

Anthony (Papazian) is a former

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

who has just returned to his home in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

after a tour abroad. He suffers from

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

, frequently waking up in the middle of the night with nightmares. His ex-wife Jenny (Anderson) has filed a restraining order against him, and he has had brush-ins with the law. He befriends his neighbor Cheryl (Cook), whom he defends from her boyfriend. Cheryl's son Wade (Leabu) looks up to Anthony, and the two become friends. One night, when Anthony is about to attempt suicide, Wade comes in asking him to help his mother, who has overdosed on

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

. Anthony takes them to University Medical Center to try to help her, but she dies. A social services worker named Jolene (San Giacomo) agrees to let Anthony take care of Wade while they find him a foster family. Anthony encourages Wade to beat up a bully and restrains a teacher who tries to intervene, which brings in police officer George (Dutton) to find them after they go on a mission to find Wade's real father. Wade accidentally kills Anthony's dog and Anthony is arrested on numerous charges. Wade goes into foster care. Anthony agrees to Jolene's demands to take care of himself and she finally allows him to spend time with Wade.

Cast

as Anthony * Tristan Lake Leabu as Wade *

as Jolene *

Azura Skye Azura Dawn Storozynski (born November 8, 1981), known professionally as Azura Skye, is an American actress who first gained recognition for her role as Jane on The WB television sitcom ''Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane''. She also had a 2-episode role ...

as May *

Audrey Marie Anderson Audrey Marie Anderson (born March 7, 1975) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Kim Brown in the CBS action-drama series ''The Unit'' (2006–2009) and her recurring roles as DC character Lyla Michaels (Arrowverse) ...

as Jenny *

A.J. Cook Andrea Joy Cook (born July 22, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2020, 2022). Cook has also appeared in ''The Virgi ...

as Cheryl *

as George *

Taylor Kinney Taylor Jackson Kinney (born July 15, 1981) is an American actor and model. He has played Mason Lockwood in ''The Vampire Diaries'', Jared in ''Zero Dark Thirty'', Phil in '' The Other Woman'', and Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant Kelly Severi ...

as Jessie *

Lombardo Boyar Lombardo Boyar (born December 1, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Chuy in ''The Bernie Mac Show'' and for voicing Lars Rodriguez in ''Rocket Power''. Career Lombardo is a veteran of the United States Army, h ...

as Armando * Kari Nissena as Beth *

Max Charles Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

as Dylan *

Ronnie Gene Blevins Ronnie Gene Blevins (born June 20, 1977) is an American character actor. He is best known for his role as small-time criminal Willie Russell in the 2013 film ''Joe'', directed by David Gordon Green. Career His TV credits include '' NCIS'', ''Tr ...

as Ronnie

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a score of 36% based on 11 reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film has a score of 32 out of 100 based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews, but an 87% rating from audiences. Anthony Barker of ''

Daily Variety ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'': "Papazian registers best as an actor, realistically inhabiting his post-traumatic-stress-tormented ex-Marine protag, Anthony... . Acting is solid if unremarkable all around, with San Giacomo the sharpest of the supporting bunch." Simon Abrams of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'': "There's no amount of emotional distress that macho brooding can't fix in Least Among Saints, a monotonous drama centered on a PTSD-afflicted Gulf War II soldier's search for canned redemption. The emotional stakes of writer/director/star Martin Papazian's feature directorial debut are almost exclusively defined by clichés" Chuck Bowen of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'': "Tonally, Least Among Saints is reminiscent of the low-rent action films released under the

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

banner... The film is simply, particularly for its sensitive subject matter, inexcusably absurd... but as a story meant to take place on some rational version of planet Earth, it's utterly hopeless."

References

External links

* * {{Allmovie title, 568513 2012 films Films set in Tucson, Arizona Films shot in Los Angeles American independent films Vertical Entertainment films 2012 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films