REVIEW: DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
It's been established the Oscars love depressing topics. Last year's front runners involved topics like 9/11, slavery, a boy losing his entire family on a shipwreck, and bipolarity. Luckily this year's Oscars have changed that drag of a vibe, with topics like...slavery, AIDS, child abandonment and possible dementia. I'm gonna need a Prozac to get through next year's Academy Awards.
Dallas Buyers Club falls into that depressing subject category, but its risky subject completely pays off, especially considering it's the true story of Texas electrician Ron Woodroof's fight to live after being diagnosed with AIDS. It may not have the f-words of Wolf of Wall Street (this film has about 104, compared to Wolf's estimated 414, according to kids-in-mind.com) or the tenderness of Her, but this is absolutely one of the year's best films, and deserves its ranking among the other fine eight pictures.
While watching the SAGs, Globes and Critics Choice Awards I watched a threepeat of McConaughey come up to the stage, say his now catchphrase (?) "Alright, alright, alright" and accept the award that I so desperately wished for Chiwetel Ejiofor. So I might as well get this out now, I'm no good with apologies: Matthew, you deserve the praise you've been getting. As evidenced in cameos like in Wolf and the titular character of Mud, you all have realized by now we are in the midst of the McConaissance. While I still hold Ejiofor gave the better performance, McConaughey's Woodroof demonstrates acting that 100% merits an Academy Award.
He and Jared Leto are pure revelations. I admit I haven't seen Leto in much, I've just seen him in bit roles in Girl, Interrupted and Fight Club. It would've been easy for him to let his appearance do the acting for him: he plays fictional drag queen/Woodroof's unlikely business partner Rayon. But, especially during the end, Leto carries his own weight (well, what's left of him, Leto lost 30 lbs along with his leading man's 45) and his spot-on feminine affectations help flesh out his character. McConaughey though...he elevates this to some levels I've rarely seen in cinema lately. He doesn't portray, but rather embodies Ron, and we see him transform from your typical southern, 80s-era bigot to a man capable of change after circumstances force him to reconsider his ways.
Thankfully director Jean-Marc Vallee didn't let his actors eclipse the film; it has style in its own right; like the clever device of a ringing ear, serving as a literal and metaphorical reminder of Woodroof's death that he desperately wants to postpone. The film chronicles Woodroof and Rayon's distribution of natural medication to AIDS patients willing to pay the money for it, hence "the Dallas buyer's club." The local hospital that Ron frequents isn't all too happy about it, they want patients to use AZT, which Ron finds out is toxic.
Dallas sidesteps hospital drama cliches for the most part, so don't expect this to be a sentimental film. It's gritty and painfully melancholic at times, but its message is that of hope, and when you've been put in a box and told when you're going to die, you start to live much more than you ever had before.
Rating: 3.5/4 stars (it's Oscar season, and 3's and 3.5's are quite abundant)
Dallas Buyers Club falls into that depressing subject category, but its risky subject completely pays off, especially considering it's the true story of Texas electrician Ron Woodroof's fight to live after being diagnosed with AIDS. It may not have the f-words of Wolf of Wall Street (this film has about 104, compared to Wolf's estimated 414, according to kids-in-mind.com) or the tenderness of Her, but this is absolutely one of the year's best films, and deserves its ranking among the other fine eight pictures.
He and Jared Leto are pure revelations. I admit I haven't seen Leto in much, I've just seen him in bit roles in Girl, Interrupted and Fight Club. It would've been easy for him to let his appearance do the acting for him: he plays fictional drag queen/Woodroof's unlikely business partner Rayon. But, especially during the end, Leto carries his own weight (well, what's left of him, Leto lost 30 lbs along with his leading man's 45) and his spot-on feminine affectations help flesh out his character. McConaughey though...he elevates this to some levels I've rarely seen in cinema lately. He doesn't portray, but rather embodies Ron, and we see him transform from your typical southern, 80s-era bigot to a man capable of change after circumstances force him to reconsider his ways.
Thankfully director Jean-Marc Vallee didn't let his actors eclipse the film; it has style in its own right; like the clever device of a ringing ear, serving as a literal and metaphorical reminder of Woodroof's death that he desperately wants to postpone. The film chronicles Woodroof and Rayon's distribution of natural medication to AIDS patients willing to pay the money for it, hence "the Dallas buyer's club." The local hospital that Ron frequents isn't all too happy about it, they want patients to use AZT, which Ron finds out is toxic.
Dallas sidesteps hospital drama cliches for the most part, so don't expect this to be a sentimental film. It's gritty and painfully melancholic at times, but its message is that of hope, and when you've been put in a box and told when you're going to die, you start to live much more than you ever had before.
Rating: 3.5/4 stars (it's Oscar season, and 3's and 3.5's are quite abundant)
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