Directed by: Jean-Marc Vallée
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner
Rated R, 117 minutes
Enough has already been said and made of Matthew McConaughey’s career transformation that now I guess I’m supposed to take him seriously. Formerly a go-to guy for dumb-shirtless-jock romantic comedy leads in such clunkers as “Fool’s Gold,” McConaughey is now a Very Serious Actor – or, at least, that’s how it sounds if you listen to the various members of the press who have been documenting his efforts to take more serious roles. But if “Dallas Buyers Club” is any indication, McConaughey’s idea of a serious character is still surprisingly and refreshingly humorous.
In 1985, Ron Woodroof (McConaughey), a self-perceived Texas macho man, suddenly finds himself diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. Immediately he begins researching his disease to find a cure. Foiled by FDA bureaucrats, he enlists the help of a local transvestite who also suffers from the disease, Rayon (Jared Leto, “Requiem for a Dream”), and starts ordering shipments of foreign drugs that aren’t for sale in America. He and Rayon open an office in a Dallas motel, serving long lines of AIDS patients who need medication but can’t afford the medicine that the FDA pushes.
Woodroof’s “buyers club,” as his business becomes known, is challenged by FDA lawyers and local hospital officials, but he is persistent, using every trick and loophole in the books to keep the club afloat. As his and Rayon’s conditions worsen, they only become more resolute in their efforts to provide for their community. They are always on the brink of failure, even when they win the sympathies of a local doctor, Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner, “Juno”). But for them, the simple fact that they can beat a 30-day prognosis is already a success.
It’s a story of struggle that is both medical and social, a constant battle with an incurable disease and deep-seated stigmata against those who have it (Woodroof himself being prejudiced in such a way, only to reform his outlook). As you’d expect, there is a triumphant tone to the film, but it’s very clear from the beginning that this isn’t your ordinary underdog story. The triumph isn’t that Ron and Rayon beat the disease – AIDS still doesn’t have a cure, of course – but rather that they are willing to put themselves on the line constantly, if only for another day of life.
Jean-Marc Vallée (“The Young Victoria”) directs with this in mind; any day could be Ron’s last, but any possible solution could be the one to cure them for good. Edited with a remarkable eye for efficient storytelling and combined with a sparse but terrific score, the film conveys what it needs to with only the wispiest of suggestions – for instance, the moment when Ron realizes where he contracted the disease is told through a brief, dark flashback that we can only barely see, but the proof is there.
The performances are similarly suggestive, with Jared Leto stealing much of the spotlight as the charismatic Rayon. Underneath a sunny exterior that enjoys flowing dresses and wigs, Rayon bears a deep pain that comes through only in small moments, but which comes through like a punch to the gut.
And acting as his foil is McConaughey, the comedian, the contrarian, using every ounce of humor he has to combat a situation that provides no solace. He undercuts every serious moment with quips and jabs and frequently with alcohol. His drawl is emphatic, his mannerisms sly, his prejudices mocked, his pain laughed at. He never cries. I can’t tell if his performance shows great restraint or if this is the extent of McConaughey’s serious acting abilities, but the balance is perfect for this movie.
As McConaughey noted when accepting his Golden Globe a few weeks ago, this movie “was never about dying, it was always about living.” It would have been easy for “Dallas Buyers Club” to turn into a kitschy tearjerker with such a heavy life-affirming message (and, to be fair, it does have its moments of clumsy symbolism). It’s one of the best movies of 2013 because it vehemently, humorously, even angrily denies us that sort of experience. Life may necessarily end in death, it accedes, but there is joy in staying strong until the very end.
Originally published in The Harvard Press on 2/7/14.