Brilliance of two actors

Rating: Null/10 (11 July 2014)

Dallas Buyers Club received recognition in the form of both Academy Awards for Male Actors, both main and supporting, becoming the fifth overall and the first in over a decade to win both. This is fitting, seeing as the two award receivers in question, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, do give some of the most grounded, real and hauntingly human performances seen in a while. This is their tale and the movie shines solely because of them.
It's mid-80s and AIDS hysteria is in full swing. No one knows what this new, terrifying disease is all about and no one expects the victims to live longer than a few weeks. History tells us that thousands simple wasted away in hospitals, hooked up to machines to alleviate their pain. But there were some who refused to give up, who went out and looked for cure no matter what. This is a story about one such man.
McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof beautifully. Outwardly and at first he's your typical Texas rodeo jock, full of swagger, empty promises and dirty innuendos. Yet as the movie progresses, you start to see the core of iron within him. You start, partly despite yourself, to appreciate his determination, his intelligence and his willingness to do what others will not or can not do.
Leto is certainly somewhat overshadowed by McConaughey's excellence, but his performance shouldn't be dismissed either. Rayon, a HIV positive homosexual works as a classic foil. He's the sensibility to Woodroof's bluster, the emotion to his logic, the inside view into a world Woodroof has previously dismissed altogether. Both are subtle and nuanced performances even though their characters are crude, vulgar and outlandish.
Dallas Buyers Club will win you over with its plot, storytelling and most of all characters. It's one of those movies where you cannot really find any faults even though it might not otherwise become one of your favourite movies. Heavily recommended.