A Terrific Experience

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2014)

Dallas Buyers Club opens with a scene of Matthew McConaughey humping a woman while at a bull riding venue. There is no dialog in the scene, just the sound effect of "screeching". This opening scene more or less sets the audience up for what they should expect the film to be like. Certainly, it is one of the more interesting ways in which a director opens his film this year.
Dallas Buyers Club is based off the story of Ron Woodroof, played by Matthew McConaughey, who lost 40 pounds for this role and almost dominates the film. Woodroof was a handsome, macho, playboy, homophobic bull rider, but after he was diagnosed with HIV, due to unprotected sex, he starts to see things a little differently. After getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Woodroof gets AZT to treat HIV/AIDs, but due to consuming AZT, as well as substance abuse, Woodroof comes close to dying. Realizing this, Woodroof starts a worldwide search for a fallen doctor (Griffin Dunne) who prescribes antiviral drugs. Along the way, Woodroof meets Rayon, a transvestite who changes Woodroof's views on homosexuals, and played by Jared Leto, who is completely transformed in this role, with makeup and weight loss much like McConaughey. Becoming an inspiration for HIV/AIDS people everywhere, Woodroof, along with his friend Rayon, starts The Dallas Buyers Club, a new place for HIV people, which eventually leads him directly in conflict with the FDA.
Dallas Buyers Club shows how "greedy" and untrustworthy pharmaceutical companies can be. The film actually seems to support two different sides. On the one side, you have Dr. Sevard (Denis O'Hare) and Richard Barkley (Michael O'Neill) representing the "corrupt" side of things. More motivated by money than anything else, they don't even seemingly bother to look at how good their prescriptions are. The other side is the "good guys", the ones who seemingly want to help: Eve (Jennifer Garner), and Dr. Vass (Griffin Dunne). Some people are just in it for the money and are not to be trusted.
The acting is, for the most part, pretty great. This film relies heavily on its performances. As mentioned above, both McConaughey and Leto lost a lot of weight to play their roles, and both actors are very skinny. McConaughey, as Woodruff, delivers an Oscar worthy performance. His accent fits the character perfectly, and he portrays an abuser with tremendous power. When McConaughey says "#uck" when he discovers that he is truly diagnosed with HIV and AIDS, his scream is delivered priceless. McConaughey, as an actor, has gone through a major career change, and is no longer considered a joke among his peers. He went from being a promising actor, the male lead in "lousy romantic comedies", and to where he is now, a real serious dramatic actor. The fact that he manages to snag so many award nominations, and even win a few, as well the Oscar possibly, speaks volumes of how much he has changed as an actor.
I wouldn't be the first to say the film's most outstanding performance is not from McConaughey himself, but from Jared Leto as Rayon. His voice, his makeup, its all done perfectly, transformed into his role as a transvestite. Sometimes, I even swear he was a woman. His performance in Dallas Buyers Club, feels very much like a Leto performance, as it continues his willingness to do anything for a role. It's not hard to see why he is the front-runner this year for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Most of the other performances in the film are good, but those two are especially outstanding. Jennifer Garner is unmemorable in the role as Eve a doctor. Though Garner isn't awful, her performance leaves much to desire. Thankfully even the writers realized that, as the film seems to be more about the relationship between Woodroof and Rayon, then that of Woodroof and Eve. Denis O'Hare and Michael O'Neill are just playing stock corrupt doctors and aren't developed much beyond that, which may be considered one of the films biggest weakness, though it didn't bother me at all.
The direction by French Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee is especially good. Just about every shot is clear. The decision to have scenes without dialog and just "screeching", was especially interesting. If this was in the wrong hands, it could have potentially been disastrous. The editing is also good and the film flows at a nice pace, being a little less than 2 hours. Dallas Buyers Club is an extraordinary film which shows just how far one man with AIDS went to find a cure. The acting and directing makes the film and it is definitely one of 2013's very best.