Dallas Buyers Club

The year is 1985, and in the sprawling badlands of Dallas, electrician Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) spends his days drinking, gambling, and dabbling in shady sexual conquests wherever (and whenever) possible. When he is hospitalised upon sustaining an injury at work, blood tests reveal that Woodroof has contracted AIDS following unprotected sex with a prostitute. His medical examiners (among them Dr Eve Saks, as portrayed by Jennifer Garner) surmise that he has a mere 30 days left to live.

Woodroof begins a frantic attempt to kill the disease by illicitly acquiring doses of AZT; the only combative drug which has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. When his health deteriorates further as a consequence, Woodroof extends his search for a cure to Mexico, where his condition benefits thanks to the consumption of unapproved pharmaceuticals. Beyond providing a sliver of hope for his own life expectancy, Woodroof spots a money-making opportunity in the unsanctioned drugs, and he begins smuggling them back across the border, establishing the Dallas Buyers Club for his fellow citizens who have contracted HIV.

Jean-Marc Vallée’s film touches on a lot of issues in its runtime, all encompassed within one man’s battle against a terminal illness. National institutions are brought under scrutiny, moralities and ethics are tested and twisted, and sexual politics are brought to the fore thanks to Jared Leto’s masterful turn as fellow AIDS-sufferer Rayon. Such performances form the bedrock of Dallas Buyers Club, with a wealth of acting talent occupying the screen throughout its runtime. Garner, Leto, and Michael O’Neill all deliver magnificently in their supporting roles, bringing the film an emotional heft which never feels saccharine or ham-fisted.

But the lodestone of the piece is McConaughey himself, who turns in a riveting lead performance, investing Woodroof with charisma and knife-edge dynamism, crystallised in a physical transformation which goes above and beyond the call of duty. Dishevelled and pallid, but always conveying the determined heart thumping beneath those bones, Woodroof as channelled through McConaughey is enthralling to witness, rendering Dallas Buyers Club an essential and powerful viewing experience.

Michael Perry