Latter Days (2003)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

C. Jay Cox

Writer (WGA):

C. Jay Cox (written by)

Release Date:

1 July 2004 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Aaron prays. Christian plays... Opposites attract.

Plot:

A promiscuous gay party animal falls for a young Mormon missionary, leading to crisis, cliché, and catastrophe.

Plot Keywords:

Christian | Mormon | Missionary | Homosexual | First Gay Sexual Experience

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Steve Sandvoss	...	Elder Aaron Davis
Wes Ramsey	...	Christian Markelli
Rebekah Johnson	...	Julie Taylor (as Rebekah Jordan)
Amber Benson	...	Traci Levine
Khary Payton	...	Andrew
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Lila Montagne
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Elder Paul Ryder
Rob McElhenney	...	Elder Harmon
Dave Power	...	Elder Gilford
Erik Palladino	...	Keith Griffin
Mary Kay Place	...	Sister Gladys Davis
Jim Ortlieb	...	Brother Farron Davis
Linda Pine	...	Susan Davis
Bob Gray	...	Susan's Husband
Judee Morton	...	Noreen (as Judith Morton Fraser)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content and language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:15 | Iceland:14 | Germany:12 | USA:Unrated | USA:R | Hong Kong:III | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Funny Boy Films

Trivia:

Through researching his role as a man with AIDS, Erik Palladino discovered that some of his character's medicines would cause some of his hair to fall out. Therefore, he took a pair of clippers to his own hair to create bald spots although he shot all of his scenes in one day.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Christian confronts Ryder against the exterior apartment wall, the shadows alternate between hard shadows and soft shadows, indicating a mismatch between takes.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Elder Aaron Davis: When I first came to Los Angeles, It look like just this mass of dots... all jumbled and disconnected. It was pretty disorienting.

Movie Connections:

References Fantasia (1940)

Soundtrack:

Tuesday 3:00 a.m.

Touching on many fronts...

Latter Days touched me unexpectedly in many ways. I knew little about the film before I saw it on DVD, and really had few expectations. I am no movie critic, and probably see fewer flicks than most people. But I know what I like, and I know when something tugs at my soul. Few movies exist that I have wanted to see more than once. This is one, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is soulsearching.

Maybe it is stereotypical, and maybe its not Academy Award material (I like few that are), but it really touched some hot buttons with me, and it moved me to tears in the end. I thought that Cox and company did a great job summing up such deep subject matter in such a short time.

For those who think it's hoaky, I say relax, its just a movie. I lived many parts of the real-life version of this story, and it wasn't always pretty. While never a Mormon, I have "wrestled with the angel" for most of my adult life, still trying to reconcile my gay being with my spiritual being. Long-term denial of my sexual identity at an early age led me into a lengthy struggle with drugs and alcohol and a near-death experience 11 years ago. I even looked into aversion therapy once as a way to "cure" myself from homosexuality. Trust me, its better to see this unfold in a movie than to have lived it.

While it may be steeped in stereotype and clichés, as many critics have suggested, Latter Days manages to expose many shallow traits among the major elements in this story: organized religion, gay culture and even Hollywood itself (I love how Cox portrayed L.A. as an additional "character" in the movie).

I thought that the acting was terrific, especially Sandvoss as Aaron Davis. The music is as touching as the story (I recommend the soundtrack too). I can't speak for most moviegoers, but this one will stick with me for a while, and few ever do.