Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic comedy-drama film about a gay relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. It was the first film to portray openly the clash between the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and homosexuality. In 2004, freelance writer T. Fabris made Latter Days into a novel, which was published by Alyson Publications.
About Latter Days in brief
Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic comedy-drama film about a gay relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox and stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian. Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears as Elder Ryder, and Rebekah Johnson as Julie Taylor. Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on July 10, 2003 and was released in various states of USA over the next 12 months. It was the first film to portray openly the clash between the principles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and homosexuality, and its exhibition in some U.S. states was controversial. Various religious groups demanded that the film be withdrawn from theaters and video stores under boycott threats. In 2004, freelance writer T. Fabris made Latter Days into a novel, which was published by Alyson Publications. In the novel, Aaron is excommunicated by the church elders, led by his own father, Farron, who is the stake president. He is subsequently sent by his parents to a treatment facility to be cured of his homosexuality. Christian travels to the treatment facility, where he hears a female voice singing a new music video, which upsets Aaron. Christian spends the next few days thinking continually about Aaron and uses it as the basis for her new song.
Christian and Aaron spend an intimate night in a motel, but when Christian awakes, he finds Aaron gone. Christian is desperate to find Aaron and locates his home address. Christian finds Aaron standing in the snow outside the airport terminal. Christian confesses his love, and despite his misgivings, Aaron admits his own feelings of love. Christian discovers an entry about Aaron in his cellphone and uses the entry as a basis for his new song, “I Belong to You” In the book, Julie tells Christian that she hoped something good would come from it, and she hoped Christian would come back to her. Christian returns to Los Angeles and finds Aaron’s pocket watch, a family heirloom, has been left behind, and he is sent home in disgrace. Christian joins Project Angel Food, delivering meals to people with AIDS, and meets Aaron’s fellow missionary, Paul Ryder. When Christian accidentally cuts himself on a metal hose reel and faints, Aaron helps him indoors and cleans his wound. Both men are overwhelmed by their feelings and end up kissing, failing to notice the return of Aaron’s roommates. The film is met with mixed reactions from film critics, but was popular with most film festival attendees. At the North American box office however, Latter Days only made USD 834,685, barely covering the production’s costs with an estimated budget of USD 850,000.
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This page is based on the article Latter Days published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 16, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
