“Dallas Buyers Club” is a gritty, performance-driven film from director Jean-Marc Vallee. It features Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in their Oscar-winning performances that are the real reason for seeing this film. They are truly awesome in their roles and were well-deserving of the awards.
McConaughey plays Ron Woodruff, a man diagnosed with HIV who after a brief period of denial, resorts to trafficking in medications that help prolong his life and the lives of hundreds of others afflicted with the disease. Leto plays Rayon, a transexual who befriends Woodruff despite their differences.
We do learn that though they are polar opposites in character, their HIV diagnosis is not the only thing that separates the two men at the heart of this story. They both share a fierce disregard for authority and the status quo. They are deeply passionate about life and continuing to live it and they both go through a character trajectory and arc that reveals more of their personalities to themselves and the viewers of the film.
Their relationship is complex because Ron starts off as a homophobic individual and Rayon threatens this disposition. Gradually, Ron begins to see that, despite his “queerness”, Rayon is a sympathetic human being, sharing a lot of traits with himself. Ron, as a result, becomes more open-minded and compassionate towards all of humanity.
The performances are so raw and realistic that you may question the nature of the film’s reality. Both leads lost a ton of weight to bring their characters to life and lend more credence to their circumstances.
This is truly one of the best films of 2013. It might have been a different story, however, with different leads. It tells the story of time in history when AIDs was a new thing and is about the individuals who did what they could to cope with it.
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