Dallas Buyers Club Review

Dallas Buyers Club
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto
8/10

The winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, Dallas Buyers Club is the biographical story of Ron Woodroof, an AIDS sufferer who established a buyers club to distribute unapproved alternative medicines to treat the disease. The film is an insight into an agitated and anxious America in the mid-1980s, when widespread paranoia spread across the country due to a collective ignorance about the HIV virus and the government’s sedate treatment of the issue.

Matthew McConaughey firmly establishes himself as an actor worthy of his Academy Award. His portrayal of Woodroof is a far but welcome cry from a previous string of roles as the misunderstood womaniser in films such as Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. McConaughey is barely recognisable as Woodroof, and his transformation from a homophobic bigot to a caring and respected member of the AIDS affected community is impressive to watch.

The most outstanding performance is from Jared Leto as Rayon, a trans woman Woodroof meets in hospital. Leto is mesmerising as the dignified and gentle Rayon, his acutely human portrayal fully deserving of his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The physical transformation of both actors to play terminally ill AIDS patients is extremely confronting, and is notably highlighted by Robin Mathew’s Oscar winning makeup design.

The unfavourable portrayal of medical practitioners is not entirely difficult to excuse in light of the frustration and utter hopelessness brought on by the politics behind pharmaceuticals. The film is an important commentary, and worth a watch.

Evelyn Lawrence