Latter Days

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Once upon a time, there once was a young, blond, energetic Mormon missionary who traveled into the big, corrupted city of angels to spread the Word of God. He quickly caught the eye and fancy of a non-Mormon-approved homosexual, and a pursuit of debauchery began.

Okay, so I made it sound like the beginnings of a Bel Ami porn flick. As the film displays male nudity like dime-store candy, it looks that way too, until writer and first-time director C. Jay Cox takes a well-though turn.

With a somewhat predictable romantic comedy structure (Cox also wrote the much more cheesy and formulaic chock-flick, Sweet Home Alabama), this provocative film manages to touch some serious issues through its engaging story. It's great for a movie--even a low-budget one like this--to grapple with issues of faith and meaning in life, it's been rarely done these days. There may be times the film feels somewhat contrived,however, stick with it; you'll be rewarded by its message and its great ending.


After our hunky Mormon missionary Aaron (Steve Sandvoss) leaves his dull, rural Idaho home for the godless wildlife of Los Angeles, he's and his missionary partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 3rd Rock from the Sun) are immediately confronted by their welcoming but obviously gay neighbour Christian (Wes Ramsey from Charmed). Aaron has more sympathy toward alternative lifestyles than his Mormon leaders would like. Without a profound bone in his body, Chris is on a frivolous sleaze trail of no names please sexual encounters headed nowhere. The attraction is immediate, but for Chris, the encounter is more than simply plucking innocent, Idaho-raised Mormon fruits. Aaron feels an immediate physical attraction that he channels into evangelical zeal, while Christian, ever the playboy, makes a bet with his coworkers (Jordan and Payton) that he can bed one of the Mormons. But it's much more complicated than that, as any hint of homosexuality for Aaron will result in excommunication.

There are so many interesting things going on in this film, our director obviously knows what he's writing about (the story is autobiographical) as it touches on such Mormon hot potatoes as racism, sexuality and gender roles in a knowing, unblinking way that's both witty and refreshing. And it really comes together when the characters begin trying to look for something deeper and to discover meaning in life. Somehow Cox keeps this from being corny and preachy, for the most part, presenting it as a sincere quest that in this case has a genuinely intriguing conclusion, no matter how convenient it all may be.

The cast is very good, especially Sandvoss and Ramsey ( who are sooo hot ), who convey Aaron's and Christian's internal discoveries and outward changes in revealing ways. And they have terrific chemistry together that makes their growing relationship believable, especially in a climactic hotel room scene that shows real intimacy without being prurient. Sturdy supporting work is provided by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Third Rock from the Sun) as a virulently homophobic Mormon, Erik Palladino (ER) as a bitter gay man enduring the final stages of AIDS and Jacqueline Bisset as a restaurateur who dispenses matronly wisdom a la carte. And a powerful scene between Aaron and his mother (Place) has a very different kind of raw authenticity to it, as do a series of scenes between Christian and an Aids patient (Palladino). When Aaron Davis is later excommunicated from the Mormon charge for "the grave and grievous sin of homosexuality," he asks his brittle mother (Mary Kay Place, in the most searing performance of her career), "What if it's is not something I've done? What if it's who I am?" What follows is one of the most bracing confrontations between mother and son in the history of cinema, gay-themed or otherwise. And while the film is far too sweet and tidy (and more than a little unbalanced in the its treatment of the Mormon church), it's also a moving personal story told in a natural and thoughtful way.

Latter Days has some of the technical clunky bits that are to be expected in any directorial debut, but it also has been called the most important gay male movie of the past few years.

The film has been favourably compared to Trembling Before G-d, the documentary that addresses the soul-searching among ultra-Orthodox Jews who also happen to be gay.

All-in-all, it is a
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