Latter Days

I just watched the movie Latter Days and my eyes are still watery from the ending. It was such a brilliant movie that made me that blew away all my expectations for what this small independant film was going to be. (Caution, possible spoilers ahead!)

I've watched a few gay-oriented flicks before (Eating out series, Were the World Mine etc) and with the exception of one, most of them have been only "meh" in terms of quality. I mean, the movies themselves, or more specifically the actors, were all pretty to look at but they were all cinematic fluff on the inside, the movie equivalent of a marshmallow peep (completely stole that from the movie haha). This movie was different though, it actually had depth, the characters believable if you gave them time to develop, and there were just enough surprises to keep me hooked.

Aaron (played by Steve Sandvoss), a closeted Mormon missionary who recently moved to Los Angeles as part of a mission, was delightfully innocent and cute but also complex and deep. Finding himself falling for the party boy next door, he begins on a journey of discovering himself which takes him on a roller coaster ride of happiness, deep despair and even to the verge of death. His struggle to accept his sexuality and the fallout he endured after he was caught kissing Christian (played by Wes Ramsey who I will discuss later) was absolutely heartbreaking. Sandvoss came across as very natural and authentic in his controversial role which itself deserves recognition.

In contrast to Aaron, Christian (Wes Ramsey), is your stereotypical SoCal gay party boy, he's gorgeous and decidedly shallow and free spirited at the start of the film but you soon realize that he is actually much more than that. He only realizes that he is more than what his outward persona shows after meeting Aaron. As he finds himself falling for Aaron, he realizes that he himself had never felt this way for someone else his entire life. Following the fallout of being caught with Aaron, he goes on a frantic search for the love who he believes could be his one-in-a-million. Much like Sandvoss in his role as Aaron, Wes Ramsey does an excellent job of being so natural in his role, you really see him take on the persona of Christian and give the level of performance that few movies, major and independent, I have ever seen.

Latter Days takes cues from many movies of the past and also classic formulas for what a good story should be. The two semi-star crossed lovers Aaron and Christian mirror Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and the familial animosity furthers this similarity. The chemistry between the two characters is laudable, something sorely missing from many a modern day romantic drama. Unlike Shakespeare's famous play however, the movie itself has a happy ending; more comedy than tragedy in the Elizabethan sense, meaning things end well rather than poorly, though in many points of the film, it really does seem that the movie very well could be on the verge of being a tragedy. I credit this to director C. Jay Cox's excellent story writing which is actually based on his own experiences as a closeted Mormon who eventually came out and was excommunicated from the church. While not autobiographical, I feel that it was the influence of his own experiences which made the film so believable.

It's important to recognize the film is not a stab at the Mormon church, rather it's just a very well made film on a very touchy subject, the fact that the film even made it into light surprises me. Made on a shoestring budget of less than a million dollars, it comes across as something much more. The other characters, including the motherly restaurateur Lila (Jacqueline Bisset), Christian's singer-songwriter roommate Julie (Rebekah Johnson), and homophobic fellow missionary Ryder (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) all play a very important supporting role in making the movie into the emotional piece of work it is.

I strongly recommend seeing this movie if you haven't already. It doesn't matter if you're gay, straight or bi, this well crafted romance is a standout in what is an otherwise lacklustre field of gay-oriented films. Few movies have left such a strong impression on me as this has and this is the only film in recent memory to have elicited a tear from my normally steadfast eye.

The film can be found for free online, through youtube, or on DVD.

All the best,

JP