Dallas Buyers Club

This film came to the UK with the usual awards hype that seems to accompany any number of bigger films that are released around this time, but I had made an effort to avoid it and didn't know too much about it other than McConaughey being talked up about his performance. Indeed I had ignored it as much as I could and to the point where I really knew the barebones of the plot – which was to say it was a true story of a guy who got HIV and, frustrated by the lack of medical treatment at the time, decided to start running effective drugs unapproved by the FDA across the Mexican border into the US. With this very basic grasp I did worry that the film would be sentimental, making a hero of the main character, playing up the plight of the infected and generally being the sort of film they wheel out for awards at this time of year, ticking all the topics off that gets voters onboard.

Happily the truth is that, although there is an element of this, the film doesn't overplay to this side of its nature and instead delivers a remarkable straight telling without too much excess. The character of Ron is a hustler first and everything else second and this doesn't change once he finally gets through the "bargaining, anger, denial, acceptance" stages of his diagnosis. As a result his efforts to bring in the drugs are not done out of some selfless act of wanting to help others as he prepares to meet his maker, but rather as part of his own fight for life he hits on a scheme to make money – and for the majority of the film this is the case. This central truth to the character really works to rob the film of sentimentality of him and therefore of the wider situation and it makes for a better film because we are engaged because we are interested rather than becomes a sweeping musical score or "Oscar clip" moment tells us to feel something. It does still do this and it does still bring out the sense of people struggling to live while the structure supposed to help them does little about it, but it does so in a way that is refreshingly free of smaltz.

Although this is a strength, it should also be said that the film doesn't manage to bring it all together as well as it should given the subject matter. It just feels like it falls a few steps short of greatness in terms really delivering an emotional punch that informs on the individual and the bigger picture at the same time – it does do this, but it is more consistent rather than building to this. Despite this it still works and although it lacks these real highs of delivery, it was functional and successful and I appreciated the lack of easy sentiment. The performances match this and in particular McConaughey gets the tone of the film and by return sets it. He is great, not because of the weight loss but because he delivers an unsympathetic character and convinces as him whether he is raging in denial, hustling or hurting. He is the heart of the film and it works as well as it works thanks a lot to him. The support characters are never more than supporting though, but of course Leto is strong in his role – not because he cross-dresses, but because he is the character and he makes Rayon about much more than the appearance. Zahn, Garner, O'Neill, Dunne and other recognizable faces all do solid work but primarily this is McConaughey's film.

Dallas Buyers Club may not be perfect but it is consistent and it is engaging. I appreciate that it never resorts to easy smaltz or cheap sentimentality and it seems perfectly fine with its flawed character being flawed throughout the film. It is a well told story which links well from the individual's story into the bigger picture, even if it doesn't quite impact at that level as it could have done. Within the solid and effective frame of this story, McConaughey then seals the deal with a really strong lead performance as he takes yet another massive leap away from being that guy leaning against the title on the bus poster.

Much has already been written about Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto's astonishing transformations, and brilliant performances. Solid and true, yes. They both deserve enormous accolades, Golden Globe and AMPAS-worthy, for these transformations and the effort of their craft. But I think the true heroes of this project are the Producers who took a chance on such dicey subject matter. Some reviews hail the project as "A Crowd Pleaser," and yet, you realise, these are TRULY marginal characters, and not entirely likable, as some have already said, in an Era (1970s-1980s early AIDS crisis) that is nearly forgotten in this age of HIV exposure-as-a-managed-care-condition, rather than a death sentence, as it was between 1979-1995. As much as this could be a feel-good film for the discovery and pioneer of protease inhibitor cocktails, it is a compelling character study of a time of crisis that has not been well-captured or documented adequately in quite some time. BRAVO to the Producers of this movie for giving this project the Greenlight, because the sexually-active youth of today would never know the Plague and tragedy that preceded their coming-of-age without a reminder like this.

At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, patients were advised to wait. In the six years following the first recording of the AIDS outbreak in 1981, more than 40,000 people in the U.S. died while waiting. In response to the clamor for action on the AIDS crisis, then Vice President George H.W. Bush has been quoted as saying "If you want change, change your behavior." Roger Ebert recalls, "Politicians did not want to be associated with the disease. Hospitals resisted admitting victims, and when an AIDS victim died, some health-care workers would place the body in a black garbage bag. Funeral homes refused to accept the corpses."

As described in David France's documentary How to Survive a Plague, activists such as the New York-based organization ACT UP began to protest against the government's callous indifference, challenging the FDA to change their drug approval procedure and the pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices and speed up their research process. In addition to the organized group protests, individuals also did their part and the determination of one unlikely crusader, electrician Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a homophobic "good ol' Texas party boy," is the centerpiece of Jean Marc-Vallée's gritty and hard-hitting Dallas Buyers Club.

Written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack and based on real events, it is the story of Woodroof's personal struggles after being diagnosed with AIDS and his efforts to spread public awareness of the disease and help reduce the suffering and extend the lives of AIDS patients. As the film opens, the heterosexual, drug-using and unabashedly promiscuous Woodroof receives the bad news from his doctors that he only has thirty days to live. Reacting with vitriol, he storms out of the hospital, cursing and making homophobic slurs while accusing the staff of making the wrong diagnosis.

After thoroughly researching the disease, however, and accepting the idea of his serious illness, Woodroof hears of a clinical trial for the new drug AZT, the only legal drug that was available at the time in the United States. His attempt, however, to become one of the participants is denied and he has to purchase the drug surreptitiously from an orderly. Unfortunately, he soon finds out that the dosage of AZT he is taking is toxic and his condition worsens. Refusing to give up, he visits an unlicensed American doctor (Griffin Dunne) in Mexico who has had some success with alternative treatments such as vitamins and protein-based anti-viral drugs.

Smuggling non-FDA approved experimental and alternative medicines into the U.S., he creates a business that allows him to distribute the drugs free of charge to AIDS patients who pay a monthly membership fee to join his Dallas Buyers Club, one of many such clubs that sprang up around the country. Woodroof is assisted in his venture by the drug-addicted transsexual Rayon (Jared Leto), a fellow patient that he met during his hospitalization. Though the film's depiction of Rayon does little to break the gay stereotype, their mutual engagement in helping AIDS victims helps Ron see his business partner in a different light than on their first meeting.

With the help of a sympathetic doctor, Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), Rayon and Woodroof work together while dodging Food and Drug Administration enforcers and the wrath of the pharmaceutical companies. In one of his best efforts, Matthew McConaughey, who lost 40 pounds for the movie, delivers a brilliant performance as the emotionally volatile but basically decent Woodroof. Though ultimately, not all alternative drugs proved to be useful, Woodroof and Rayon's determination in the face of powerful interests helped paved the way for development of new treatments, even though it took until the late 90s to come up with one that was fully effective. As a result of their efforts and that of countless others, HIV is no longer the death sentence it once was.

Other reviewers have ably reviewed this film, so I'll just say that this small gem is the best film I've seen so far this year. Both lead actors give sparkling performances, and in scenes where they share the screen, you might need sunglasses to handle the sun-bright intensity.

Of note is that this entire film was shot in only 23 days and Leto, in particular, said in an interview on the Daily Show, that he didn't have much time to rehearse, making the performance even more impressive. The only detraction was Jennifer Garner. She barely projects the authority of a nurse, let alone a doctor, even though female doctors in the 70's (and maybe today) were second-class citizens.

Matthew McConaughey is barely recognizable as Ron Woodroof, an electrician/womanizer who ends up finding out he's contracted HIV/AIDS and has 30 days left to live. After searching deeper for information on a relatively unknown disease (at the time), he finds out that there is existing medication that is not yet approved in the U.S.A. that could help him survive longer.

However, after running into red tape when trying to obtain medication, he decides to smuggle massive amounts of pharmaceutical products and starts selling them to other HIV/AIDS infected patients, creating the "Dallas Buyers Club".

First of all, what a film. Jean-Marc Vallée's "C.R.A.Z.Y." was quite something to watch, but "Dallas Buyers Club" is a tremendous achievement. Vallée's directing is stellar, the script is top notch, and features a palette of characters that makes this story truly engaging and human.

Homophobia, illness, lust, being incapable of receiving proper treatment, smuggling, death, friendship, the limitations of the legal system, these are all themes that would lead one to think that this film is a depressing drama. It is not. And that's where the success of "Dallas Buyers Club" lies. All these themes would make the perfect recipe for a melodrama, wrap it up in a small package with a big star (McConaughey), and put the "Based on a true Story" stamp. But it's so much, much more.

"Dallas Buyers Club" avoids all the traps of melodrama by being whole-heartedly hilarious at times, with just the proper dose of raw emotion, and performances that will be remembered for ages. Half-way through the film, my friends and I looked at each other, in a bit of disbelief, unanimously agreeing that McConaughey deserves an Oscar for this. Jared Leto is also wonderful as Rayon, an AIDS-infected transvestite patient that will become a great friend and business partner, and that will trigger Woodroof's change of vision towards homosexuality. And it is not drastic. It comes in all kinds of subtleties and heart-warming moments. Hats off to Jennifer Garner as well, she is flawless.

Without ever offering a heavy-hearted tone, this is a story of perseverance and positivity with an interesting setting that sheds some light on an often forgotten page of history. Engaging social drama, well-written comedy, and wonderful cinematic experience altogether.