Review of Dallas Buyers Club (2013) by Charliebury — 20 Mar 2014

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film and I am still not exactly sure what I think of it, but what I am certain is that Matthew McConaughey’s performance deserves great respect and admiration. Any doubts of him as a truly impressive actor should be thrown off the prescription; I wouldn’t be surprised to see him take home an Oscar alongside his Golden Globe for best actor in a drama.

And a drama it surely is, with McConaughey’s character Ron Woodruff prancing about like a scandal before being diagnosed with “full blown” AIDS. His journey to overcome this diagnosis is what makes this film so remarkable; his character fights with enormous passion and determination to turn his life around and the lives of thousands of others. Woodruff is a skinny, tiresome and dopey character, McConaughey shed 38 pounds and it shows, one is reminded of Christian Bale’s frightening bodily transition in Brad Anderson’s The Machinist. A stand of ovation for the man.

Jean-Marc Vallée directs the picture following the success off the back of his critically acclaimed Café de Flore in 2012 and The Young Victoria in 2009. Vallée works odysseys of magical proportions, his characters are mystical in their ways yet frighteningly grounded with realistic human behaviour. He is a director to definitely watch out for, and no doubt he has plenty more breath-taking dramas waiting to elope the screen.