Latter days

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Movie
German title Latter days
Original title Latter days
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2003
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director C. Jay Cox
script C. Jay Cox
production Jennifer Schaefer
Kirkland Tibbels
music Eric Allaman
camera Carl Bartels
cut John Keitel
occupation
synchronization

Latter Days is a romantic American film drama from the year 2003 .

action

The film describes the dramatic love story between West Hollywood party goer Christian Markelli and Mormon missionary Elder Aaron Davis from Pocatello, Idaho.

Christian's life is mostly about sex and partying. When four Mormon missionaries move in next to his apartment, which he shares with his best friend Julie Taylor, he immediately casts an eye on the handsome Aaron. With a bet of 50 dollars from his friends, Christian tries to seduce Aaron. He almost succeeds. But at the last moment Aaron is repelled by Christian's superficiality. It becomes clear that Aaron is also gay, but because of the conflict with his religion (quote from missionary colleague Ryder: “ Yeah, God hates homos ”) he doesn't dare to give in to his feelings.

Christian, too, who has to let Aaron hold his superficiality against him, is deeply irritated by the incident and begins to question, rethink and change his lifestyle. Christian joins the project "Angel Food" in and brings AIDS luxation Meals on Wheels .

When Aaron comes home one evening after his fellow missionary colleague Paul Ryder's bicycle accident, Christian consoles him. A sensual hug and kiss ensues. However, they are disturbed by the appearance of the other missionaries. Aaron is sent back to his parents in shame.

Christian only finds out about it the next morning. However, Elder Ryder informs him that Aaron will be in Salt Lake City for five hours . Christian flies after him and meets him at the airport, where there is another kiss. After the airport closes, the two spend an intimate night together at the airport hotel. When Christian wakes up, Aaron has already traveled on to his parents.

While Christian falls into deep heartache, Aaron is excommunicated at home, as expected, at a meeting chaired by his father . After serious allegations from his mother, Aaron tries to take his own life by cutting open his wrists with a scalpel.

Christian tries to contact Aaron by phone. In doing so, however, he only reaches Aaron's mother. She tells him that Aaron has cut his wrists and accuses him of being responsible for the loss of her son. However, she does not mention that Aaron survived the suicide attempt.

Christian is badly hit and falls into deep lethargy. After a while, however, he realizes that he must somehow deal with this matter and decides to visit Aaron's mother to give her back the family pocket watch that Aaron had left behind at the airport hotel.

Christian Aaron's mother tears the clock. She reads the engraved text in the pocket watch cover (“but the greatest of them is love.” 1 Cor 13.13  EU ). She seems to realize that she was wrong about her prejudice about Christian and tries to run after him, but can no longer reach him.

Meanwhile, Aaron is in a re-education facility where he is supposed to be "cured" of his homosexuality. During a toothbrush cleaning campaign, he thinks he hears an angel singing. He pursues this chant and sees on TV how Julie sings a song about Christian who is suffering from the alleged death of his lover Aaron.

Aaron leaves the institution and travels to Los Angeles to see Christian again. However, when he rings the doorbell at Christian's apartment and another man opens it, he leaves, affected.

Aaron seeks solace in his grief with Lila Montagne, a restaurant owner. Her only connection is a business card that she gave him as a thank you for his support in a difficult moment. Little does he know that Christian works as a waiter for her of all people. While he is telling Lila the story of his life and suffering, Christian, who still thinks Aaron is dead, enters the room with a tray. He sees Aaron and drops the tray to the floor with a loud crash. Aaron sees Christian, and they both hug each other overjoyed.

The film ends with a happy Thanksgiving dinner at Lila's restaurant.

interpretation

Although the film obviously addresses the problems of religious communities with homosexuality, it should not be called anti-religion or god-negating per se. Various spiritual themes run like a red thread through the film.

  • The angel's motif:
    • When Christian was left alone by his father in a snow storm as a teenager, he heard an angel singing. This chant is really about the wind whistling over a cave. This “song” brings him to this saving cave, where he has his first homoerotic experience and realizes that being gay is not a reason to die. Aaron is tempted to go back to Los Angeles by angel singing, in fact Julie's singing about Christian. In both cases, it is an angel who lets the two main characters come to the right decisions.
  • The motif of apparent coincidences:
    • Apparently by chance, Aaron comforts Lila in a difficult moment outside a hospital. She gives him her business card out of gratitude. With the help of this card, Aaron comes to Lila's restaurant at the end of the film, where Christian happens to be working. Lila: “I don't believe in coincidences. I believe more and more in miracles. "
    • While Christian makes numerous phone calls to find Aaron's phone number, he seems to be drawing random numbers on a pad and coloring them. When he finally gets Aaron's phone number, he realizes that Aaron's phone number is exactly the one he recorded himself beforehand.
  • The snow motif:
    • Christian got his first insight into homosexuality in snowstorms (“ gray and white ”). The AIDS patient whom Christian supplies with meals on wheels has a vision of snow when he comes into contact with Christian. In front of the airport in Salt Lake City, where Christian and Aaron meet again, there is a snow storm and Aaron's typical clothing is characterized by black and white.
  • The motif " colorful and white ":
    • At the beginning of the film, Aaron and Christian meet in the laundry room of the residential complex. Christian sees Aaron putting the laundry unsorted into the washing machine. Christian explains to Aaron that you can't wash colored and white things together: “ Colors and whites don't mix ”. This motif is used repeatedly in the film as a metaphor for the relationship between Aaron and Christian. The airport scene repeats this theme with direct reference to Isaiah's messianic prophecies . Christian says: “… and lions lay down with lambs and colors mix with whites ” compared to “Then the wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies with the goat. Calf and lion graze together, a little boy can herd them "( Isa 11,6  EU ) and" Wolf and lamb graze together "( Isa 65,25  EU ).
  • The motif "from Saul to Paul ":
    • It becomes clear early on that the fact that Aaron thinks Christian is superficial hits him hard. This leads Christian to rethink and change his life. In the scene at the airport it becomes clear that this change in his character is caused by Aaron, as he associates the biblical motif of the blinding light, which moves Paul to repent, with Aaron himself (cf. Acts 9,3  EU ). This is supported by the fact that Aaron looks very bright in this scene - blond, an almost white face due to the cold of the snowstorm, white shirt, scene lighting - compared to the darker dressed and tanned Christian.
  • The naming of the characters does the rest:
    • There is the name Aaron who, from a biblical point of view, was given the hereditary high priesthood (Aaronic Priesthood) through Moses , but later rebelled against Moses and
    • Christian , whose name comes from the biblical term Messiah and, according to some biblical prophets, is supposed to herald the end times as a savior and peace-maker.
  • The motif cross and blood:
    • In one scene, Aaron drips blood on his hand and forehead while sleeping in his bed ( stigmatization ). Shortly thereafter, the film fades into his dream in which he is depicted as crucified wearing a crown of thorns .

synchronization

The film was set to music at the Cinephon in Berlin based on a dialogue book and directed by Cay-Michael Wolf.

role actor Voice actor
Elder Aaron Davis Steve Sandvoss Leonhard Mahlich
Christian Markelli Wes Ramsey Markus Pfeiffer
Julie Taylor Rebekah Johnson Marie Bierstedt
Traci Levine Amber Benson Ranja Bonalana
Andrew Khary Payton Tobias Kluckert
Purple Montagne Jacqueline Bisset Helga Trümper
Elder Paul Ryder Joseph Gordon-Levitt Ozan Unal
Elder Harmon Rob McElhenney Nicola Devico Mamone
Elder Gilford Dave Power Rainer Fritzsche
Keith Griffin Erik Palladino Jan-David Rönfeldt
Sister Gladys Davis Mary Kay Place Regine Albrecht

Reviews

"Unconventional, well-observed, refreshingly cliché-free gay comedy, conceived and staged by C. Jay Cox, who [...] can sing a song about the culture clash as a homosexual Mormon."

- KINO.DE

“There are no coincidences, but miracles. A story that shows that fighting is always worthwhile and that hope in the end outshines everything. "

- Gesine Grassel : kino-zeit.de

"The gay romantic melodrama Latter Days draws on an unconscionable number of conventions, but works in the end because of its commitment to its characters and a handful of fine performances. [...] The issue now is not the discovery of your sexual orientation but what you are going to do with that knowledge: Mr. Cox clearly endorses moving from the first liberating rush of promiscuity into more responsible, more mature, more stable relationships. "

- Dave Kehr : New York Times

“A moving drama about the love between a vain picker and a shy Mormon preacher. Maybe the beginning of a gay mainstream. "

- Michael Kienzl : critic.de

Naming

The name "Latter Days" comes from the English name " The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints " of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the Mormon denomination group mentioned. Latter-day also means "today". In the course of the plot, a transition from latter-day to these days becomes clear as a play on words in the original language version of the film.

Awards

C. Jay Cox won the audience award at the 2003 LA Outfest and Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and 2004 at the Toronto Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rebecca Phillips: 'A Topic Deeply Buried'. Beliefnet, February 2004, archived from the original on April 10, 2008 ; accessed on July 2, 2016 .
  2. ^ Latter Days. Killermoviereviews.com (December 14, 2004), accessed July 2, 2016.
  3. ^ Latter Days. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on April 3, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Movie review: [1] on KINO.DE found December 14, 2008
  5. ↑ Film review: [2] on kino-zeit.de. Gesine Grassel, accessed July 2, 2016.
  6. ↑ Movie review: [3] on www.nytimes.com Dave Kehr, January 30, 2004 found December 14, 2008
  7. ^ Film review: [4] on critic.de Michael Kienzl, April 25, 2005, found on December 14, 2008
  8. ↑ latter-day at dict.leo.org