Review of "Latter Days"

My Reviews will now be posted on Saturdays since obviously my thursdays are shit. Even though it probably doesn't matter cause I doubt anyone reads this :-P

Talk about an amazing gay film that is really heart-wrenching. It seems nowadays most gay based films are only about the sex, but this one takes it beyond the sex and actually produces a decent story line. It is mainly about a Mormon named Aaron Davis, who is played by the gorgeous Steve Sandvoss. Aaron, who is from Utah, is in Los Angeles completing his mission trip that all Mormons must go through. Of course Aaron is secretly gay, but being a Mormon he is not allowed to pursue these urges. The movie follows the life of Aaron.

Of course by coincidence, Aaron happens to move next door to an attractive gay man who happens to be very promiscuous. Christian Markelli is his next door neighbor and is played by Wes Ramsey. Christian generally sleeps around, and due to this has the idea that he can get with any man he wants. This leads to his coworkers placing a bet on him that he can't get a mormon to give him their underwear. This makes Christian to meet his new neighbors. Aaron of course automatically likes Christian, but tells Christian he won't do anything with him because he sleeps around and only thinks of guys for sex and not for relationships. This causes Christian to have a meltdown and to reevaluate his whole life. Christian starts to help out at a local volunteering organization where he delivers food to those who have AIDS. Through many experiences Christian grows as a human. Eventually Aaron's other mormon roommates find out, and Aaron is sent back to Utah and is excommunicated from the church.

Being excommunicated causes great disruption in Aaron's family which causes Aaron to attempt suicide. From there Aaron is sent to a 'treatment facility' in hopes that he may no longer be gay. Christian ends up finding out that Aaron has cut himself and thinks that Aaron is dead. Christian then goes to Aaron's family and wishes his condolences and returns something that belonged to Aaron. This caused the mother to finally accept her son and to believe he truly has no choice. Then by a total miracle, Aaron finds out that Christian is not only about the sex and that he truly loved Aaron. This causes Aaron to secretly run away from the facility and go back to LA where he meets up with Christian again and they live happily ever after.

Now the good stuff. The acting in this film was mainly attrocious. I could have done better, and I am a crap actor. But they did a fairly decent job and the acting was usually not a distraction. There was also some unbelievable feats that occured which would never occur in real life, such as Christian flying to Salt Lake the day after he decides to go. The film was fairly good and was one of the few really good gay films not based on sex.

I liked the way the mother acted. She was one of the better ones. Aaron's mother, Gladys Davis [played by Mary Kay Place], had a very emotional time. At first she had everything she wanted and all at once everything was taken from her. Through this she learned that love is what needs to be the most important thing in her life and that she can't afford to lose her son even though she is gay. This is a fabulous dream which I think actually occurs. That even though she hates the fact he is gay, she can't help but to love him anyway. She closely reminds me of my mother.

Christian was also a funny character. He seemed to develop the most throughout the movie. At first he was just into the sex with other gay men. This is very typical of gay men in today's society. In order to get the guy he likes though, he must grow to be an actual human being. He has to be able to no longer be shallow and actually care about other people. Him being able to do it brings hope into my world that there are people out there who can change into better human beings. And also that nonshallow gays exist, even though they are ridiculously hard to find.

This movie moved me and made me cry at least twice. I fully recommend it to everyone who is willing to watch gay films. There is some partial porn in it, but what straight film doesn't nowadays anyway. I loved it and hope all will watch it.