The Falls caught me off guard. I didn't really know what to expect before watching the movie, but I am really glad I gave it a chance.
The summary is already above, but basically it's about two boys sent to do missionary work in the name of the Mormon church. The story starts with RJ (Nick Ferruci), and he meets Chris (Benjamin Farmer) later on. They are companions and carry out their "missions" in a pair, as they're supposed to, but during their months together they start to fall in love. We soon see them have doubts, and this is aided by a war veteran, Rodney.
I found both the lead actors really good. Some of the side characters weren't as compelling, but the two leads and Rodney were the most important, anyway.
The movie also handled the Mormonism (i.e. organized religion) and sexuality issues very well. When Chris first starts having doubts it makes him angry, but RJ calms him down by saying it's normal to have doubts. Strangely enough, Chris was the more forward one, but RJ ended up being the one who was stronger in his convictions. RJ's best scene was when he was talking about how he wasn't ashamed of who he was. It was nice that his family didn't reject him, either.
The ending was left for us to understand, and it left me with such a warm feeling!
**huge spoiler alert** So in one of their meetings with Rodney, he told them that he left home when he was 20, picked his brother up and they went around America for a few months, figuring themselves out before joining the army.
In the last scene we wonder if RJ and Chris have a future together (especially after Chris's seemingly negative reaction to being found out), but our doubts are allayed (especially by RJ's strong declaration of his feelings for Chris). If you notice, RJ looks at the envelope on his car seat. It's a letter addressed to him from Chris, and the camera lingers on Chris's address for a while. So what are we to make of it? Clearly, RJ is going to do with Chris what Rodney and his brother did. So tired of unhappy endings, so this was really refreshing. **spoiler end**
All in all, a great movie and I recommend it very much!
The summary is already above, but basically it's about two boys sent to do missionary work in the name of the Mormon church. The story starts with RJ (Nick Ferruci), and he meets Chris (Benjamin Farmer) later on. They are companions and carry out their "missions" in a pair, as they're supposed to, but during their months together they start to fall in love. We soon see them have doubts, and this is aided by a war veteran, Rodney.
I found both the lead actors really good. Some of the side characters weren't as compelling, but the two leads and Rodney were the most important, anyway.
The movie also handled the Mormonism (i.e. organized religion) and sexuality issues very well. When Chris first starts having doubts it makes him angry, but RJ calms him down by saying it's normal to have doubts. Strangely enough, Chris was the more forward one, but RJ ended up being the one who was stronger in his convictions. RJ's best scene was when he was talking about how he wasn't ashamed of who he was. It was nice that his family didn't reject him, either.
The ending was left for us to understand, and it left me with such a warm feeling!
**huge spoiler alert** So in one of their meetings with Rodney, he told them that he left home when he was 20, picked his brother up and they went around America for a few months, figuring themselves out before joining the army.
In the last scene we wonder if RJ and Chris have a future together (especially after Chris's seemingly negative reaction to being found out), but our doubts are allayed (especially by RJ's strong declaration of his feelings for Chris). If you notice, RJ looks at the envelope on his car seat. It's a letter addressed to him from Chris, and the camera lingers on Chris's address for a while. So what are we to make of it? Clearly, RJ is going to do with Chris what Rodney and his brother did. So tired of unhappy endings, so this was really refreshing. **spoiler end**
All in all, a great movie and I recommend it very much!