Unsentimentalized Biopic of an Entrepreneurial AIDS Sufferer

Rating: Null/10 (12 February 2014)

Set in the mid-1980s, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB focuses on the life of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), who imports the medicine that fellow AIDS victims need, while circumventing the official system in the process. What sets Jean-Marc Vallée's film apart is its refusal to sentimentalize the material: in McConaughey's performance he comes across as both homophobic and insecure. Even though he forms a close relationship with cross-dresser Rayon (Jared Leto), it's clear that he views homosexuality as somehow deviant. On the other hand, once he has been diagnosed with AIDS, Woodroof is ostracized by his fellow-Texan drinking buddies, who accuse him of being gay. We may admire Woodroof's ingenuity, as he exploits the system to procure supplies of drugs for his buyer's club, but we remain unsure as to his motives; is he performing a service or simply proving to himself that he can defy the doctors' prognosis that he has only 30 days to life? Or both. The film is deliberately shot in washed-out colors; this is a dark, subterranean world of seedy bars and ascetic hospital wards, where AIDS sufferers try to cope with the trauma of living with the disease, while being exploited by doctors such as Dr. Sevard (Denis O'Hare), who are more interested in profit motives than patient welfare. McConaughey and Leto are simply outstanding. Both of them had to lose considerable amounts of weight for their roles; their performances - especially as AIDS wreaks its ravages on them - are both understated yet intensely affecting. Definitely worth an Oscar or two, hopefully.