Our very own Tom Matthews sat down to watch one of the most intriguing films of the year and came back with a few notes on this brave attempt to portray the difficulties of the LGBT community.
As LGBT History Month draws to a close and with the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, it’s fitting that Dallas Buyers Club is touted for success.
It captures the sorrow and anger, in fleeting but powerful doses, caused by the AIDS outbreak among gay and straight communities in the mid 1980s.
Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are hot favourites to take the brace of best actor and best supporting actor Oscars, and it’s easy to see why.
McConaughey’s portrayal of Ron Woodruff, as AIDS wastes his body and transforms his character while he fights to get the illegal meds that will keep him alive, is the latest revelation in his own career transformation.
Meanwhile, Leto convinces as transgender woman Rayon, who is struggling with AIDS and drug addiction.
Woodruff, shunned by his homophobic friends, takes on the establishment and slowly forms an odd-couple friendship with Rayon as they scam the authorities with their buyers club.
A script that is only good lets the film down, oddly, as the pair of McConaughey and Leto elevate it with their brilliant performances.
Director Jean-Marc Valee’s direction takes the viewer on an overall excellent look at the devastating changes brought on by illness, drugs, violence and strong human spirit
