Praised at Sundance and winner of the Critics' Week at Venice, author Dito Montiel's first film as director is based on his own upbringing in Queens, New York, during the Eighties.

There, a group of youths stride along the mean streets of their neighbourhood behaving badly enough to incur British Asbos, but not really doing anything too terrible. The only way out of their impoverished lives is to move well out of town.

The trouble is that their families think that leaving is tantamount to desertion. We learn that Dito eventually escaped to LA; the older Dito (played by Robert Downey Jr) only returns to Queens when his father (Chazz Palminteri) has a heart attack.

Travelling back in time, the film recalls his untidy youth, as the young Dito (Shia LaBeouf) hangs with his childhood sweetheart (Melonie Diaz), the young Scot (Michael Compston), who wants to become a rock star, and his handsome best friend (Channing Tatum), who is grappling with an abusive father.

The cast - which also includes Dianne Wiest and Rosario Dawson - tries hard and mostly achieves veracity.

Montiel marshals them well, but we've seen this sort of thing before. Still, you feel he knows what he is talking about, especially regarding the strong family ties that survive practically everything and render our hero's return after 15 years so redemptive.

Montiel is also good at showing how those who can't express themselves adequately at moments of crisis often turn to violence. Apparently the director came out of it all unscathed. Most of his friends ended up either in prison, on drugs or dead.