'I've been looking for you, lone star.'

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2014)

In perhaps one of the most emotionally charged, brave, brilliantly acted films of the year DALLAS BUYERS CLUB opens door to emotions and facts and history that to this day remain tightly closed - a film about the AIDS plague. Based on a true story and written with sensitivity by Craig Borden and Melisa Wallack and directed with equal verve and insight by Jean-Marc Vallée (The Young Victoria, C.R.A.Z.Y.), this is a film that lingers in the mind long after the closing credits. It deserves to be seen by everyone, not only for the incredibly fine performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, but because of the questions it raises about the interplay of disease, drug companies and current governmentally controlled medical practice guidelines.
Texan Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is an electrician, a rodeo cowboy, a heavy drinker and cocaine abuser, and a woman chaser for casual sex. In 1985, Ron is blindsided by being diagnosed as H.I.V. -positive and given 30 days to live. Yet he will not, and does not, accept a death sentence. His crash course of research reveals a lack of approved treatments and medications in the U.S. (especially the prolonged investigation of AZT), so Ron crosses the border into Mexico where he discovers Dr. Vass (Griffin Dunne), a discredited American physician with his own battery of drugs to fight AIDS. Woodroof learns about alternative treatments and begins smuggling them into the U.S., challenging the medical and scientific community including his concerned physician, Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner). A true homophobe, Ron finds an unlikely ally in fellow AIDS patient Rayon (Jared Leto), a transsexual who shares Ron's lust for life. Rayon also shares Ron's entrepreneurial spirit: seeking to avoid government sanctions against selling non-approved medicines and supplements, they establish a buyers club, where H.I.V.-positive people pay monthly dues for access to the newly acquired supplies. Ron's pioneering underground collective beats loud and strong. With a growing community of friends and clients, Ron fights for dignity, education, and acceptance. In the years following his diagnosis, the embattled Lone Star loner lives life to the fullest like never before.
In addition to the brilliant performances by McConaughey and Leto, there far fine cameos by Jennifer Garner, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts, Donna Duplantier and Griffin Dunne. This is a stunning cinematic achievement.