Sunday, March 9, 2014

Dallas Buyers Club : My review

A movie I so wanted to view ever since Matthew McConaughey's cameo in the Wolf of the Wall St. caught my fancy, Dallas Buyers Club further stamps the lead's skill and potential as one of the greatest actors in Hollywood today.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) PosterShot in near documentary style, with hardly any crane shots and lack for aesthetics, Dallas Buyers Club, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, portrays the dramatic impact of AIDS crisis in the United States. The storytelling is gripping as there are no unnecessary innuendos and no dramatic background score to spoon-fed the viewer.
"Club" is about Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), who is a part time rodeo and a full-time drug addict(mostly cocaine) and sex addict. He finds himself HIV positive one fine day and is told that his life would last only 30 days. The movie develops not only as the fight of survival for Woodroof through illegal consumption of AZT( which he obtains from a Mexican physician) but also his rowdy relationship with the flamboyant yet poignant transsexual, Rayon (Jared Leto). The movie highlights Ron's growth as a human being and his entrepreneur spirit to provide meds to the patients, no matter the illegalities involved, and prolonging their lives.

The acting prowess of both McConaughey and  Leto, provided the necessary impetus to the otherwise shallow characterization which largely eschews button pushing and tear-jerking inspite the story tells that how AIDS spreads havoc and wrecks their lives both mentally and emotionally.

The approach of direction as well as the narrative (Screenplay by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack)  is unconventional and that's why the movie doesn't really transcend into an insipid, sermon-like take on the topical issue of AIDS.
The movie, however, isn't free of flaws. The half- hearted plots and shabby editing in parts give you sour burps as the expectation you had were a little more, given the track record of the protagonist but the movie does crackle with McConaughey's indomitable spirit and the sensitivity of the issue dealt with. You'll love it if you have a penchant for substance over style.