TIFF Review: Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto Shine In ‘Dallas Buyers Club’

Skin-and-bones Matthew McConaughey uses his cowboy swag to tell death off, proving that even in a story about AIDS there’s some space for a little humor.

Dallas Buyers Club was one of the most anticipated titles of the TIFF – so much so that the organizers decided to add an extra press screening for those who have not managed to get in on the first throw. Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée, known for C.R.A.Z.Y and Cafe de Flore got inspired by the extraordinary life of Ron Woodroof – a homophobic, heterosexual Texan, compulsive womanizer and drug enthusiast who, one day, wakes up in a hospital bed and learns that he has HIV and 30 days to live.

Surprise, surprise… Ron might be a chauvinist southerner whose sight cannot seem to reach further than the tip of his penis, but when the system tells him it is time to die and nothing can be done about it he refuses to conform. Not only does Ron tell it to go “fuck” itself; fighting the imposed limitations, initially only as a profitable business, he also found Dallas Buyers Club – an organization which, in return for a membership fee, offers the HIV positive members alternative medicine and health support. In an unexpected turn of events Ron basically revolutionizes the common approach to the treatment of HIV in the United States and forever etches in history .

The film is set in 1985, right before the peak of the HIV outbreak in the US and right after the AIDS-caused death of Rock Hudson rocked the media. For our protagonist, who learns about it while taking bets somewhere in the back of dirty rodeo arena with his booze-and-pussies companions, the only concern is that Hudson had so many opportunities but apparently had sex with no hot chicks. What a waste!

Dallas Buyers Club, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. Photo courtesy of TIFF.

In Ron’s world there are no gays: only poofs, fairies and queens. He looks at them with contempt, not knowing that he will soon be with them on the other side of the fence – as a carrier of a “gay disease” he’ll automatically be stigmatized with a “homosexual” stamp and thus brutally wiped off the social map. Vallée portrays this infamous moment of social US history reliably and sensitively. For Ron, this change of perspective will be painful, but motivating. He might have been living the stereotype so far, but he refuses to become one when the crucial moment comes. Dallas Buyers Club not once loses its momentum and vigor, just like Ron, who despite his anorexic physique, fights for each minute of future with every cell of his weakened body. He doesn’t care about the idea or the mission – he’s fighting selfishly to save himself. He won’t be told how to live, and definitely not how to die.

During the shooting, media got all excited that the usually handsome and beefy McConaughey dropped more than 50 pounds, going down to a modelesque weight of 135. After watching the film his radical decision really makes sense. The diet has not only changed his body but also the psyche, making him more emotionally available, more able to fully understand the part. His starved physicality aside, is his spirit, face, voice,  are all full of life, being manipulated with the efficiency of a circus magician. Woodroof is a difficult character to like, but the director, the writers and the actor have managed to equip it with features that enable the viewers to find a warm place in their hearts for him. The cheeky sense of humor does wonders not only to the character of Ron, but is clearly noticeable throughout the whole film.

Another impressive performance comes from an actor who’s already perfected physical transformation for a role; now-retired actor-turn-musician and scriptwriter Jared Leto, who plays Rayon, an infected transsexual who becomes Ron’s business partner and perhaps the only true friend he’s ever had. Rayon is a petite and meticulously stylized (great costumes!) drama queen with heavy make up, but there is no cabaret, exaggeration or a false note in this performance. Their relationship becomes a mirror in which we can truly see Ron. This is one of the most unusual, emotionally compelling duos in film history. Dr. Eve Keller, played by Jennifer Garner, introduces harmony and grounding to this unlikely combo.

Dallas Buyers Club is one of the first films of the festival I’ve seen so successfully bond with the audience, vividly reacting to every change in tone or action. Lightweight, but not trivial, funny, but not cheap, moving, but not pathetic … Dallas Buyers Club is a film that is a lot more enjoyable than a rodeo.

Grade: B+