Electrician and part-time rodeo bull rider, hustler Ron Woodroof (an astonishing, against-type Matthew McConaughey – Failure to Launch, Magic Mike) lives and plays hard out of his Texan trailer. Contracting HIV was not part of his game plan.
Based on true events, Woodroof bucks the clinical system in the early days in the fight against the disease. Losing friends and work, unable to secure ‘at clinical trial’ AZT in spite of initially been given just 30 days to live, he looks to alternatives. Turning to Mexico, laws are broken as unapproved drugs are smuggled across the border. The formerly racist and homophobic Woodroof spends the next nine years battling with authorities about the efficacy of the very drugs that are keeping him and others alive.
Whilst overlong, Dallas Buyers Club is intimate, moving yet understandably didactic as director Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild, The Young Victoria) avoids overt sentimentality, looking instead to the determination of Woodroof and his unlikely business partner Rayon (Jared Leto – Suicide Squad, House of Gucci), a HIV+ transgender woman.
Nominated for 6 Oscars in 2014, including best film, editing & original screenplay – won 3 for best actor, supporting actor and make-up/hair styling.
Rating: 73%
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