Wonderful gripping moving and convincing

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2014)

I love slice of life movies and particularly ones that tell a real tale. I lost friends in the 80's in Sydney from AIDS. This movie brought it all back. My friends started disappearing, then there was AZt the saviour - well not quite. They disappeared but slower. I hung out with a bunch of gay guys, me and my straight partner. It was an accident of association. A bunch of mostly kiwis then one climbed out of the closet and we all became friends with a new group of people, gay people. I frequented gay nightclubs, The Laurels a take off on the academy awards for gays behaving badly, social events, weekends away, fabulous. I met Larry who the lead in Priscilla Queen of the Desert is based on. I also met people just like the queues at the clinic young, old, promiscuous and devoted loving couples.
Anyway I wander. This film, which I saw with my 23 year old straight son was absolutely reliving it, right there, experience. I have read the book and I think the enactment was fantastic. Intelligent, unenlightened and working on it - amazing.
The portrait of the fight with FDA was so good, haunting and a reflection on USA big brother knows best. Incredible to think that all this happened before the internet. He has to search through physical books and articles.
I was also impressed that this didn't wallow into a pity party. It was at a time before AIDS was really understood so it could have easily.
A great movie - I hope it gets a chance at an Oscar but then lots of movies I love never get anywhere near it and things I think are pointless and stupid do - who knows. My 23 year old loved it too. Well done Matthew McConaughey I think you did a great job and so did you Jared Leto as the role of the person who just can't give up the drugs.