Hello, hello, hello my lovelies.
Welcome to another Hidden Gem from yours truly and I have to admit I really missed writing these. I really love giving you recommendations and using my totally useless knowledge about two decades of BL. Lol Makes all the time I invested in this genre not appear so useless after all.
So today I really want to present you with a true BL classic. It’s a movie every BL fan should know and have watched at least once. Because it really is that iconic and everyone from that time period who is interested in BL will know this movie. But what am I rambling on about here?
I am rambling about
Latter Days
This movie from 2003 was such a big hit in the community back then and it definitely caused some big waves with the story it is telling. Religion and homosexuality is always a tricky topic but they definitely managed to go this fine line of being respectful while still being true to the issues. I always had quite a big thing for this movie. Because it’s just so raw and emotional and it definitely proves that love CAN conquer it all if you just try hard enough.
What Is It About?
Christian lives the typical life of a good looking, young gay man in LA. He works as a waiter while he tries to make it in Hollywood. He parties all night and the amount of men that just come and go in his house is really impressive. Christian leads a shallow life and doesn’t care that he does.
But this all changes when he meets Aaron, a mormon boy, who moves in next door with the rest of his missionary chapter. Aaron is kind, shy and sweet. It doesn’t take long before Christian falls head over heels for the young mormon. But can two people so different ever find each other?
Why You Might Like It:
- The storyline is really something special and something you don’t see every day. The component of religion is really interesting and you might even learn a bit about Mormonism on the side. The story between these two men is really filled to the brim with life lessons and little nudges about things you should maybe try to evaluate about your life. Together with Christian you go onto this journey of finding yourself and being a person you truly can like and love yourself. So yeah, it’s really an amazing story.
- The soundtrack is just bloody brilliant. Every song is just too fitting and a few are really punishing you in the emotions like a heavyweight boxer.
- The casting is really, really something. Steve Sandvoss, who plays Aaron turned into a gay icon after doing this movie and when you see it, you understand why. Because heaaaaaven’s, that’s one good looking boy. But not just the leads are casted extremely satisfactory but also all the tiny roles next to them. We have Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Aaron’s unlucky missionary pal, we have Amber Benson as the snarky waitress and we have Jaqueline Bisset as the restaurant owner. Told you. It’s rather impressive.
- The smut is reaaaaaally good. I think when I first saw this movie I definitely left my jaw on the floor because wow. I did NOT expect that. I think this one particular love scene definitely is one of the hottest things old school BL had to offer.
- This movie is REALLY a classic. If you have been in the international BL community for a bit longer, there is no way that you never stumbled about this masterpiece. It really was this famous. Back in the day you had to watch Latter Days and Beautiful Thing or you couldn’t call yourself a BL fan. So by watching it you can bask in the beautiful feeling of how many BL fans were there before you and what a long and proud tradition we have after all.
Why You Might NOT Like It:
- It’s about religion. And no, Mormonism is not gonna look very good after this movie. So if the topic of homosexuality and religion is not one for you, then maybe don’t watch this movie. Because you might end up offended.
- It has a 18plus rating and that’s good as well. Because the skinship scenes in this movie are no joke. There is nudity, you will see a butt, you might even see more, depending on how close you look. So if nudity and sex is not for you, then maybe pass. And if you are not 18…. Maybe wait a bit before you watch it.
Conclusion:
As you can see I really have not a lot of bad things to say about this movie. It’s such a classic and I never get tired of watching it. It’s one of these movies that I literally have on every of my tablets, phones and computers, just in case of an emergency and I need to watch it veeeeeeeery quickly. Lol.
But seriously, I have watched this movie so many times by now and there must be a reason for that. And the reason is that this movie is seriously SO good. It’s a classic for a reason and it’s just really one of these things that you HAVE to watch at least once to understand where our genre is coming from and where our crossings with the gay scene are lie.
Where To Watch:
You can buy this movie. On Amazon. Like legally. Isn’t that absurd.
So yeah, I hope you are gonna enjoy this movie as much as I have over the years. Let me know your opinions about this gem in the comment section. I am really curious how many of you already know about this movie.
Bye bye until next week when we come to you with another fantastic gem. And since I already know what we have in store for you, I can tell you that it’s gonna be exciting.
If you ever feel like writing for the content team, please let me or Happy know and we are gonna sort you out with a guest writer spot. And you never know, you might just end up as a member of the content team.
First posted at BLDA as part of the Content Team
Your Heart's Content 