Customer Reviews

Latter Days (Unrated Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has been on my `to watch' list for ages, so I finally got to see what all the fuss was about and was pleasantly surprised. It stars Steven Sandvoss as Elder Aaron Davis (a Mormon missionary), he has been sent to L.A. to bring the word of God to the uninitiated. He moves into an apartment opposite Christian (Wes Ramsey) who is a waiter who likes to hook up with gay men whenever possible, i.e. all the ruddy time.

In a pique of post work stupidity his co workers challenge him to `turn' one of the Mormons. He has already spotted Aaron and likes what he sees and wastes very little time in `going for it'. Big problem is that whilst having many wives was ok in the Mormon religion, being with a man is absolutely verboten. This point is rammed home by a sprightly Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Elder Paul Ryder) who, as ever, puts in a short but excellent performance (see `Mysterious Skin').

Whilst Christian may have been motivated by cash, it soon becomes painfully clear that he has genuine feelings for Aaron who comes across as a caring, loving and devout young man. What transpires will pull them apart and leave them guessing as to how to move on.

I really enjoyed this film; it is well acted, directed and filmed and tells a very difficult story with care and compassion. C.J. Cox who both wrote and directed this has clearly done a piece straight from the heart and it shows in the attention to detail. All of the supporting actors are above good and no-one is black and white. Just as in real life people are a mix of what has influenced them and the old battle between nature and nurture is played to the full. An offbeat enjoyable and sometimes challenging drama - I hope you will enjoy it.

every once and awhile a movie comes out of the thicket of movie pollution that is forced upon us these days. latter days is one of those gems! the story moved me to tears at the end and my body to tingles. true, the plot may have seemed rushed at times, but the way it all came together in the end smoothed that right over. latter days is one of those beautiful stories that makes us want to improve our lives and to find that someone who means more to us then even our own lives. bravo to all who were involved. thank you for bringing a story to me that i will treasure forever.

I received this as a Christmas gift and had no preconceived ideas of the movie as I had not heard of it. After viewing it I can tell you that it is way above the average movie of this type. I too was moved to tears in some scenes and felt the pain of the characters. Which is not to say it is a depressing movie. It sparkles with life and real people, and humor is a great part of the movie. A good, solid script coupled with good actors, good direction and pleasing camera work, all combine to provide a sparkling and different look at our gay world.
Sid

My DVD of Latter Days finally showed up yesterday and I sat down after work to watch. It was a very well done story with believable characters and wrenching emotions. I did cry through a few parts. Being raised Mormon this story rang true to me but you certainly don't have to be a Mormon to enjoy this film. All in all a very nice story that I believe many people will enjoy.

ITs a Must See Movie. I took my parents and they loved the movie

This is one Fabulous emotional movie that draws you into it every time. I never tire of watching this one. I like everything about this flick - it's an Award Winner in my book and I highly highly recommend!! One terrific flick!

This is the movie to set down and enjoy with some one special, If this don't make you weep, check your heart at the door.I highly recomend this to all romantics ...

I absolutely loved this movie. The romance between the two main characters is played out very real. The movie challenges you to question your religious beliefs and how you interpret the bible and love one another. The drama feels very real and tense. I especially love the owner of the restaurant who creates a 'sanctuary' for her wayward wait staff - that becomes a big family. This movie is one of my all-time favourite LGBT films - and plays just as well upon multiple viewings.

So many other Amazon.ca reviews of "Latter Days" have said enough about most aspects of this wonderful film, that I just want to limit my comments to the very genuine realism of the movie's depiction of the Church [i.e. cult] of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The maternal side of my family hails from Utah, my mother having been born in Salt Lake City, and when she reverted to the L.D.S. cult (having been physically tortured as a young child into becoming a member of a Baptist sect by the third of my Mormon grandfather's many, many wives, most of whom were not Mormon, thankfully, though crazed enough in other ways) she dragged my step-father, half-brother, half-sister, and me into the L.D.S. cult along with her.

Some folks will think that this motion picture's portrayal of the L.D.S. Mormon cult surely is exaggerated. Not so! The depressing depiction of L.D.S. Mormonism is right in detail, in mood, in its repressiveness, in the uptight culture that this cult breeds in every way (and which, incidentally, do not compensate adequately for such good aspects of L.D.S. Mormonism as its zeal for higher education and its appealing hymnody and choral tradition that are so musically notable). I wept when I saw this film, so true to my memories and extensive knowledge of L.D.S. Mormonism is this movie. The scene of the "church trial" that the wayward gay missionary undergoes is unbelievably, suffocatingly, and realistically evocative of the funeral home decor, gloom, and stifling atmosphere of a L.D.S. "ward" or "stake" house (i.e. the equivalent of what would be a local church or meeting house in Christian terms), of the legalistic, unbending self-righteousness of the bishop and elders judging the gay missionary without even the slightest trace of human compassion or understanding, and all the rest of the "kangaroo court" proceedings of this scene. However, it is when the lad frees himself at last from his Mormon bondage and joins up with his non-Mormon ("gentile" in L.D.S. lingo) boyfriend, back in California, that was was the point at which I lost my composure and sobbed uncontrollably from the emotion of seeing him drop his L.D.S. Mormon shackles.

A note to non-Mormon viewers is not to confuse the L.D.S. cult (i.e. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah) with the R.L.D.S. (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) church (now preferring to use the name Community of Christ, with its principal institutions based in Independence, Missouri, and Lamoni, Iowa, in the U.S.A, with Canadian headquarters in Guelph, Ont.), which is Christian, trinitarian, renowned for its peace orientation and generous spirit. There is no need for a film which would reveal the nature of the R.L.D.S. (Community of Christ) denomination, since this denomination is rather harmless, but yet more films like "Latter Days" are essential to unmask the worthlessness and oppressive institutional wickedness of the Utah-based L.D.S. Mormon cult.

I do not, as a Lutheran Christian (having reverted after Mormonism to my step-father's childhood Christian tradition) condone homosexuality (even if I struggle with it myself, often quite unsuccessfully), but neither do I believe that any religious group should have the unloving harshness towards gay people that the L.D.S. Mormon cult in post-W.W. II times has become notorious for displaying and acting upon. Thankfully, my entire family, immediate and extended, has left L.D.S. Mormonism and converted to Protestant Christianity, with the exception of one very dear elderly lady, who, fortunately but all too untypically, is in no wise the kind of biggot, despite her misguided loyalty to the L.D.S. cult and to her Utah family roots, that so many L.D.S. Mormon women and their men are; there are folks even in the most disastrously negative cults whose spirits rise above the meanness of which their religion reeks.

See this film, buying the DVD of it from Amazon.ca to view it again and again, and pity those L.D.S. missionaries who come to your door, and, more importantly, refuse to believe their deceptive tactics and rhetoric, which this movie so compellingly reveals in all their ugliness. This is more than a movie; it is a vivid learning tool about a negative socio-religious phenomenom that deserves rebuke and the opprobrium in which this film covers it.

One of the best movies for it's genre. A must have for your collection.