Latter Days (2003)
Let me start by saying how much
I love this movie. It's cute, funny, sweet, honest,
real, heart-breaking, life-affirming and one of the
most romantic gay films I have ever seen. My heart
was full continually when I was watching it.
The two main leads are to of the
most charming, engaging and attractive males to star
in a gay film in quite a while and watching them go
through the plot here is never boring. This is a film
that makes you fall in love and, even more importantly,
makes you believe in love. And - even more importantly,
this is a film for gay men that reminds us that even
though organized religion has often shunned us, there
is a spiritual place for us. There is love for us
of both the romantic and the holy kind.
The leads here do excellent work.
Steve Sandvoss provides just the right amounts of
charm, intellect, and uncontrived masculinity as Elder
Aaron Davis to be one of the most desirable men in
the movies. More than just the boy next door, he's
the boy next door who is smart and funny and has an
uncanny knack with understanding people. The film
sets his character up to be angelic and Sandvoss fits
the bill for this in more than just the physical cherubic
sense. He seems assured, open, and in tune with everything
not just in his realm, but in the world. This is a
wonderful and well written character and Sandvoss
breathes life into him in ways that would make other
actors sigh.
Meanwhile hottie Wes Ramsey, fresh
off a stint on "The Guiding Light" brings forth a
gay young man that starts out as pure fluff but slowly
and consistently grows into a real person, a solid,
thoughtful young man eager for something more. Ramsey's
Christian (this movie is so good I can even forgive
that obvious moniker) has such a wonderful arc and
one which works as the antithesis of the often seen
"coming out story" that it makes the film work in
a marvellous and fresh way. Christian is out, loud
and proud here. There's no angst over his sexuality.
But amazingly and beautifully, instead of just being
the stereotypical well-adjusted homosexual who helps
a closeted guy come out, Christian is a much more
profound character.
Really this story may purport to
be about Sandvoss' Elder, a Mormon missionary, coming
to terms with his sexuality, but it is in fact more
about Ramsey's Chris coming to terms with his humanity.
Of course, in order to do this he must also come to
terms with his spirituality. It's a solid character,
an engrossing one, and Ramsey never fails to make
it alive and human and warm. It doesn't hurt that
he's also one of the sexiest young men to appear in
a gay film ever. He looks like Val Kilmer's hot, gay,
little brother.
C. Jay Cox, who wrote "Sweet Home
Alabama," writes and makes his debut behind the camera.
And what is most amazing about his film is that even
when it fails, even when it doesn't work, even when
it is forced and contrived and not good, it is still
a wonderful film. Cox may make mistakes and take wrong
turns but these are almost always forgivable because
just as soon as a bad moment ends, a scene of amazing
poignancy, humanity, and brilliance will follow. The
most beautiful moment in the film is one that Cox
revisits in the end (and sadly dilutes by doing so).
Sandvoss delivers a beautiful and tear-inducing soliloquy
about how life is like the Sunday comics that is just
one of the most beautiful and touching things I have
heard in years. And Sandvoss delivers it perfectly.
It is one of those moments that makes a film heavenly.
Cox can also be hilarious as well.
He has numerous scenes in the film that are laugh-out-loud
funny. One of the most hilarious comes when Ramsey
brings home a trick named Watersports Mort after he
begins to question his fast and loose lifestyle. The
dialogue between Ramsey and his one night stand is
just awesome and funny. It is Cox's ability to mix
all of these elements, humor, drama, angst, humanity,
humility, and myriad other emotions and feelings together
that gives us a film which often touches so close
to reality, it is earth shattering and moving.
I don't want to dwell on the problems
here because they are evident to anyone who sees the
film. Yet they must be mentioned. These flaws never
negates the wonderful things in the film. One of the
problems is the bigger name stars who act in supporting
roles here. Joey Gordon-Levitt and Jacqueline Bisset
don't really work here. Levitt is really bad. Of course,
his character has a last minute change of heart that
doesn't work in the script and doesn't work when Levitt
tries to enact it. It's a huge problem but the film
soldiers on anyway and gets back into the meat of
the story.
Bisset is used for a trite "motherly
aging ingenue" character that we've seen a million
times, much like the "intuitive AIDS patient" and
the "roommate who wants to be actor/singer/dancer"
that Cox also delivers here. These elements of the
film only work because Ramsey makes them work. (For
what its worth, Mary Kay Place does an awesome job
in a supporting role even though she has to play the
"angst- ridden mother" character).
Another problem is the low-budget
feel of the film which makes it look like a, well,
typical low budget gay movie. When you consider this
film against others of the genre, say Todd Stephens
and David Moreton's "Edge of 17," the film looks pale
by comparison. Factor in Cox's hit-and-miss moments
within the script and the film could give its detractors
much ammunition to fire upon it with. Of course, anyone
who dislikes this film is not only a cynic, a jaded
loser and an owner of a blackened heart, they are
also an idiot. Or perhaps Mormon. Or perhaps heterosexual.
Same diff.
"Latter Days" deals with one of
the few remaining foes to tolerance and acceptance
of gays, organized religion, in this case the Mormon
church (hence the film's name). Because of this, it
is able to present another coming-out story that is
full of angst and drama but still remains important
rather than genre-typical. (It would make an excellent
companion piece to "Angels in America"). There is
one line in the film that, even if it were a complete
piece of crap, would make the film valuable. When
Elder Davis confronts a Mormon church tribunal about
to excommunicate him for his "sin" of being gay, he
reminds his supposed authority figures that their
ancestors, which once engaged in polygamy, were once
also composed of outsiders.
"Are you accusing us of being hypocrites?"
one figurehead asks incredulously.
"We've moved past hypocrisy," replies
the youth. "Now we're just being mean."
Amen.
Notes:
Shown at film festivals in 2003,
the film was not released in the US to arthouses until
January of 2004.
Viewed in Austin in March 2004 with
my friend Johnny Oh!
