MYST #2: Dallas Buyers Club

Going into this movie, I had very high expectations. The movie garnered a lot of buzz and praise during the past few months, so I was expecting to be blown away. Yet, as I should have known, it didn't live up to the lofty standards I had naively set for it. However, that's not to say I didn't like it. I actually thought it was quite good, but I wouldn't put it in the same echelon of other favorites of mine.

The movie based on a true story, spans several years in the mid 1980's to early 1990's, the height of the AIDS epidemic. Set in Texas, we follow blue collar man, Ron Woodroof, played by a magnetic Matthew McConaughey, who after being diagnosed with AIDS takes action to make sure both himself and other AIDS sufferers get the medication they need. Woodroof, initially given 30 days to live by doctors, heads south of the border, and eventually global in order to secure non-FDA approved medication. He then sets up a "club" where members pay a flat monthly fee, and in return get however many drugs they need.

Assisting him in this business venture is another AIDS patient, trans-gender Rayon, played by Jared Leto. They are an unlikely duo as Woodroof is an adamant homophobe, but who later learns to appreciate the help and friendship Rayon selflessly provides. Also, in the film is Jennifer Garner in a supporting role, who plays a sympathetic doctor to the pair, and I thought gave an underrated performance in the film, but was overshadowed by the two male co-stars' work in the film.

The acting in the film was what stood out the most to me, and obviously the quality did not go unnoticed during awards season. McConaughey goes out of his rom-com comfort zone again in choosing this role, and it obviously paid off. Recently he has taken a more dramatic approach to acting and has demonstrated he has the acting chops to handle a heftier role. Indie films like this one and Mud (2012), which both feature southern men are right in his wheelhouse, where he can speak with that long drawl we have all become so accustomed to. However, I would like to see him take on more dramatic roles in the future where he doesn't use a southern accent, but it's unlikely as that seems be a trademark in the same vein as Jimmy Stewart's country boy persona. I know many will also dismiss the acclaim for this film as it was highly publicized that both Leto and McConaughey lost a lot of weight for this film, which many see as a shortcut to cashing in come awards time. Having seen the film though and many of the other contenders for awards this year, in my opinion, I do feel that the praise was merited.

Operating on a very measly budget of $5 million dollars, I read that director Jean-Marc Vallée used only natural light in the film. Therefore, the film looked very real, like a documentary, which added rather than detracted from the film, as it highlighted the bleakness of the diagnosed, burdened with the disease that permeated and affected their every day lives.

The cinematography was also done rather well. One scene I thought was very effective took place in Ron's trailer. Ron, barely functioning after a night of cocaine and booze, watches as his friend and two ladies participate in an act he can longer enjoy (that's as detailed as I'll get), and from Ron's point of view the camera slowly pans from his friend and the females towards a calendar with the 30th day circled. At this moment, Ron basically wakes up to his situation and the gravity of it, deciding not to spend the last month of life he's been given by his doctors, sitting around doing cocaine and getting drunk. I thought that this scene was very subtle, but still important and delivered a strong message to the viewers.

This movie though did have some flaws. I felt that the last third or so of the film was rather jumbled, seeming like the director changed his mind a few times about what kind of movie he wanted it to be. At times it reminded me of the movie Catch Me if You Can (2002) with McConaughey traveling to Japan to get more medication disguised as a pilot, while I wondered how he acquired this outfit, and how he had suddenly turned into a con-man able to get over the border with thousands of pills telling the DEA that it was all his and he wasn't going to distribute them. Also, by the end I thought it tried tackling a theme that had been done countless times in other films that were focused solely on that theme, while this film just kind of threw it in at the end. That theme specifically, was the greediness and corruption of large-scale government sectors like the FDA. I would have liked it if it had just stayed more focused on the characters, instead of also rather ineffectively trying to condemn the FDA.

I think that this is one of those films that I like, but I don't love, but it's hard to say why. There was just something missing, but I'm not sure what. Perhaps I'm just too picky. I do think that this movie shows a big transition for McConaughey's acting career and a large departure from his past rom-coms like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), which may disappoint many of his female fans, but for me, I'm excited and looking forward to see what he'll do next.

Overall I give this an 8/10.