Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner
Director: Jean-Marc Vallee
Rating: 4/5
Matthew McConaughey has changed his career beyond recognition in the last couple of years, grabbing everyone’s attention with the likes of Mud, Magic Mike and Killer Joe. But now he has delivered the performance of a lifetime, and could well scoop the Best Actor Oscar.
Ever since the movie started screening at the back of last year, McConaughey has been receiving praise left, right, and centre. He already has a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild for his performance, and is now the favourite for the Academy Award.
Ron Woodroof’s life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV-positive and given 30 days to live. These were the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and the U.S. was divided over how to combat the virus.
Ron, now shunned and ostracized by many of his old friends, and bereft of government-approved effective medicines, decided to take matters in his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal.
Bypassing the establishment, the entrepreneurial Woodroof joined forces with an unlikely band of renegades and outcasts - who he once would have shunned - and established a hugely successful "buyers' club." Their shared struggle for dignity and acceptance is a uniquely American story of the transformative power of resilience.
From start to finish, this movie belongs to McConaughey as he gives a truly towering central performance; it really is the best work of his career to date.
The weight loss really is shocking, as he goes above and beyond the call of duty when it came to preparing for this role; he lost a whopping fifty pounds. He really does get under the skin of this character and brings the remarkable and unbreakable fighting spirit of Woodroof to the big screen.
McConaughey may have a shocking slight frame, but he has a real presence and dominates ever scene that he is in. Having seen movies such as How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days and Sahara, I would never have thought that he was capable of such an emotional and riveting performance as this.
It is this performance that truly elevates this film; in lesser hands, Dallas Buyers Club would not have been as great a watch as it is with McConaughey at the helm.
Jared Leto is also terrific as Rayon: a transvestite who is also suffering from the HIV virus. Leto and McConaughey have real chemistry, and together they build a very touching and poignant relationship.
Dallas Buyers Club is a movie that looks at the taboo of HIV & Aids in the eighties, and the struggles that sufferers faced in getting drugs that would truly help them. The movie also touches on the stigma that came with being someone who was suffering from this disease; it would have been nice to see these two elements explored further.
Dallas Buyers Club is a powerful, raw and real movie that sees McConaughey and Leto at the top of their game - do not be surprised to see them waltz away with the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscars.
The story of Ron Woodroof is a story that really does deserve to be told, and it has been delivered with heart and humour. You need to see this film for McConaughey’s performance alone.
Dallas Buyers Club is out now.
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