Wonderful Performances in a Real Human Story

Rating: Null/10 (12 December 2013)

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
**** (out of 4)
Rather remarkable story of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a homophobic Texas man who learns that he's got AIDS and the doctors are only giving him a month to live. In a frantic search for drugs to treat the disease, Woodroof ends up starting a business by importing drugs that could possibly help those dying. DALLAS BUYERS CLUB isn't exactly a very cheerful movie to watch but there's no question that it's one of the year's very best movies and that it contains two of the most memorable performances of the past several decades. I'm not going to hold back the praise for McConaughey or Jared Leto who plays a cross dresser who is also dying of AIDS. We'll start off with Leto but there wasn't a single second in the film where you didn't believe him as this character. The scenes of his struggling with his drug addiction. The amount of emotions he's able to bring out of this character is quite remarkable to watch. Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn and Kevin Rankin are also very effective in their small roles as is the barely recognizable Griffin Dunne. As for McConaughey, it's rather amazing to see how far he's came as an actor and it just goes to show what an amazing talent he is. Once he got away from those dreadful "blockbuster" pictures he's proved himself to be one of the greatest actors working and he offers up perhaps his finest performance. Obviously the first thing you're going to notice is the amazing weight loss that he put himself through and visually this lets the viewer know how sick he is. We get to feel how sick he is through the performance, which is just incredible to watch. This guy really isn't a likable character as he does and says some horrible things but he is a human and this is what the actor really brings out. The film itself certainly contains a message about the FDA and how things were done back in the day. Thankfully the film never preaches nor does it go for cheap, "Oscar-bait" moments. Instead we're given a real story with real humans and director Jean-Marc Vallee does a remarkable job at bringing it to the screen with such emotion. The film has a tremendous look to it and there's no question that it has a big heart to go with everything.