Directed by Jean-Marc
Vallée
8/10
No film featuring Marc Bolan’s “Life Is Strange” can
be called a bad film, but Jared Leto. Matthew McConaughey’s heroics cannot be
underestimated either, but Jared fucking Leto. Talentless wimp, cute Angel Face
biding time in acting business? No, that’s not him anymore, and the question is
where exactly did that come from?
Dallas Buyers
Club is a very grim film, you have to be prepared for
that. Even at the very beginning, when Ron Woodroof still doesn’t know he has
AIDS and 30 days to live – the film seems too heavy to handle. Casual sex,
muddy rodeo, cocaine, Dallas Buyers Club
looks dark even before the real darkness sets in.
Oddly, it gets better. Woodroof (stylish and depressing
performance by McConaughey, who of course had to drop 23 kilos to play the role
(that’s your fully used checked-in baggage next time you fly, by the way); Leto
dropped 14, which is quite remarkable in his case), an electrician and a
homophobe leading a hedonistic lifestyle, has fantastically droll sense of
humour that brings a certain amount of relief to the proceedings. Nothing too
bright, of course, but what would you expect from a film with this subject
matter?
The film is based on real events that happened between
1985 and 1992, when little was known about AIDS and even less about drugs that
could help. “Dallas Buyers Club” was set up by Woodroof to sell drugs (illegal
according to the FDA) he smuggled into Texas. The queues are endless, people
are desperate, with unlikely business partners Woodroof and Rayon (Leto), both
HIV-positive, at the centre of love, hate and controversy.
McConaughey’s performance is deserving of an Oscar, no question about it, but watch Jared Leto play a transgender woman (Woodroof hates faggots, remember) with such warmth and conviction that you might accidentally think those 30 Second to Mars records had some value after all (no). Besides, Rayon is a fan of Marc Bolan. There’s a scene in which McConaughey’s character tears Bolan’s posters off the wall believing that is actually Boy George. That’s a terrific scene, and it helps make the heavy and devastating Dallas Buyers Club so memorable and enjoyable. It’s a film that stays with you, and times being what they are – what could possibly be a bigger compliment?..
McConaughey’s performance is deserving of an Oscar, no question about it, but watch Jared Leto play a transgender woman (Woodroof hates faggots, remember) with such warmth and conviction that you might accidentally think those 30 Second to Mars records had some value after all (no). Besides, Rayon is a fan of Marc Bolan. There’s a scene in which McConaughey’s character tears Bolan’s posters off the wall believing that is actually Boy George. That’s a terrific scene, and it helps make the heavy and devastating Dallas Buyers Club so memorable and enjoyable. It’s a film that stays with you, and times being what they are – what could possibly be a bigger compliment?..
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