Dallas Buyers Club
To “Shia LeBeouf” Rod Serling a little.. Imagine if you will... It is the early 80‘s. You are a strong virile Texas man who has a lot of pride in him, a bit of a homophobe, a bit of a racist but you love your whiskey, women and rodeo. You go to work one day and have an accident that knock you unconscious. When you wake up in the hospital, doctors come in, wearing facial masks and tell you that you have HIV, your t-cell count is 9 and in all likelihood you will be dead in 30 days. Go! What do you do?
In the Dallas Buyers Club, this is the exact scenario presented to Ron Woodroof (played with Texas machismo by a gaunt Matthew McConaughey) and to help you out he immediately hires two hookers and buys a bottle of whiskey. Not the most responsible way to go but he doesn’t have sex with them.
Going into a movie with this scenario, you expect it to be a down movie about dying and the tragedy of AIDS in those early days and even now. It was considered a homosexual disease, a drug users disease and at that time, they were hardly people you cared about helping. They were just beginning the trials of AZT on people though they had really no idea what it did to people. All these things lead you down the I’m gonna weep my way through this category of movie. That’s where the movie surprises you. It is all about as McConaughey said in Dazed and Confused “L-i-v-i-n.” Ron is desperate for anything that can help him and he goes to Mexico to get medications. There he meets a doctor who teaches him a new way to ease his suffering. Vitamins and minerals that six months later have Ron running full Ron speed with a new idea to bring the medication from Mexico and help more people (while making a tidy profit). As he tries to sell his medicine to a largely homosexual population he finds a problem. Homosexuals don’t want to talk to a man who so clearly hates them. Enter Rayon, a transgendered woman played by Jared Leto of My So-called Life fame, who sells his meds to the homosexual community for 25% of the profits. Soon the Dallas Buyers Club is founded. For 400 dollars per month (AZT was $10,000 dollars worth of poison according to th movie), you could receive all the meds you need.
The true joy in this movie is watching Ron and Rayon slowly become bonded in a way that certainly Ron never thought of. They keep selling their drugs while the FDA and a local doctor try to shut them down through various schemes. Ron is a strong man and Matthew McConaughey was born to play him. You could see the vitality in his eyes even when he looked close to death. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both lost a lot of weight to play these characters. Ron’s skeletal frame is frightening to look at but the man bubbling out through his Texas drawl is filled with life and a belief that he will not go down easy. For Rayon, Leto is a pitch perfect character. I can see why the Academy is expected to recognize the performance because he carries her grace and defiance while showing how devastating the disease is to her. Perhaps my favorite moment is a half naked Leto looking in the mirror and holding up a piece of lingerie to her (I say her to respect the transgendered out there...I know Jared Leto is a man) body and saying (and I am paraphrasing because I cannot find the quote anywhere) “God, when I see you I am going to be beautiful.” It is such a beautiful acceptance of fate while still being herself.
This movie is emotional. There are some great moments of pure emotion. Ron is not a quiet character and he will not pass into death without screaming for any and all to hear. This story is not only important to see but really can change your view of things. AIDS has fallen by the wayside a bit with the new cocktails and I think I heard a rumbling about a cure out there somewhere but people are still dying out there. Children are dying out there of this disease. The story is very today. I can’t say you won’t hate Ron Woodroof at the beginning of the movie but I can probably guarantee that by the end of it you can see the humanity in him. He may not always be the best person in the world but he was, for this time (and it was much longer than 30 days) a person that many people needed in Dallas. I think that is worth remembering and honoring. Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, and the rest of the cast have done that here.
Mr. Unhappy sez: See this movie. It is the type of movie you want to win the Best Picture Oscar but it will likely be honored in other ways such as supporting actor, possibly Best Actor or screenwriting. After seeing 5 movies of the 9 nominated, Her is still my favorite but Dallas Buyers Club is a strong number 2.
Going into a movie with this scenario, you expect it to be a down movie about dying and the tragedy of AIDS in those early days and even now. It was considered a homosexual disease, a drug users disease and at that time, they were hardly people you cared about helping. They were just beginning the trials of AZT on people though they had really no idea what it did to people. All these things lead you down the I’m gonna weep my way through this category of movie. That’s where the movie surprises you. It is all about as McConaughey said in Dazed and Confused “L-i-v-i-n.” Ron is desperate for anything that can help him and he goes to Mexico to get medications. There he meets a doctor who teaches him a new way to ease his suffering. Vitamins and minerals that six months later have Ron running full Ron speed with a new idea to bring the medication from Mexico and help more people (while making a tidy profit). As he tries to sell his medicine to a largely homosexual population he finds a problem. Homosexuals don’t want to talk to a man who so clearly hates them. Enter Rayon, a transgendered woman played by Jared Leto of My So-called Life fame, who sells his meds to the homosexual community for 25% of the profits. Soon the Dallas Buyers Club is founded. For 400 dollars per month (AZT was $10,000 dollars worth of poison according to th movie), you could receive all the meds you need.
The true joy in this movie is watching Ron and Rayon slowly become bonded in a way that certainly Ron never thought of. They keep selling their drugs while the FDA and a local doctor try to shut them down through various schemes. Ron is a strong man and Matthew McConaughey was born to play him. You could see the vitality in his eyes even when he looked close to death. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto both lost a lot of weight to play these characters. Ron’s skeletal frame is frightening to look at but the man bubbling out through his Texas drawl is filled with life and a belief that he will not go down easy. For Rayon, Leto is a pitch perfect character. I can see why the Academy is expected to recognize the performance because he carries her grace and defiance while showing how devastating the disease is to her. Perhaps my favorite moment is a half naked Leto looking in the mirror and holding up a piece of lingerie to her (I say her to respect the transgendered out there...I know Jared Leto is a man) body and saying (and I am paraphrasing because I cannot find the quote anywhere) “God, when I see you I am going to be beautiful.” It is such a beautiful acceptance of fate while still being herself.
This movie is emotional. There are some great moments of pure emotion. Ron is not a quiet character and he will not pass into death without screaming for any and all to hear. This story is not only important to see but really can change your view of things. AIDS has fallen by the wayside a bit with the new cocktails and I think I heard a rumbling about a cure out there somewhere but people are still dying out there. Children are dying out there of this disease. The story is very today. I can’t say you won’t hate Ron Woodroof at the beginning of the movie but I can probably guarantee that by the end of it you can see the humanity in him. He may not always be the best person in the world but he was, for this time (and it was much longer than 30 days) a person that many people needed in Dallas. I think that is worth remembering and honoring. Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, and the rest of the cast have done that here.
Mr. Unhappy sez: See this movie. It is the type of movie you want to win the Best Picture Oscar but it will likely be honored in other ways such as supporting actor, possibly Best Actor or screenwriting. After seeing 5 movies of the 9 nominated, Her is still my favorite but Dallas Buyers Club is a strong number 2.
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