Dallas Buyers Club movie review - Aussieboyreviews

DOES DALLAS BUYER’S CLUB RAWLY DEPICT ITS TRUE STORY?

This raw and real film directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Matthew McConaughey is utterly exceptional. It presents the true story about a man diagnosed with AIDS fighting for his life whilst also trying to treat other AIDS patients.

Storyline

After being diagnosed with AIDS, Ron Woodroof discovers a banned drug that can help AIDS patients survive longer. To get around the system, he forms the ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ to smuggle the medication to other patients.

Movie Images

Movie details

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts, Denis O’Hare
Writer: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
Release Date (Australia): 13 February 2014
Runtime: 117 minutes/1h 57m
Genre: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Language: English

CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)

Themes (M)

The film centres on a drug addicted man being diagnosed with AIDS as a result of having unprotected sex with a prostitute who previously abused drugs and dealing a drug to treat AIDS patients. Thematic material includes homophobia and drug addiction.

Violence (M)

The film contains brief bloody injury detail and fist-fights.

Coarse Language (MA15+)

The film contains frequent use of the word “f**k” and uses of the words “s**t”, “p***y” and “c**ksucker”.

Drug Use (MA15+)

The film includes multiple close-up depictions of people snorting cocaine and also features implied heroin injections.

Nudity (M)

The film features female breasts nudity.

Sex (MA15+)

The film features several strong sex scenes and verbal sexual references.

mpaa rating

R (for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, nudity and drug use)

Aussie boy's thoughts

Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto deliver some of the most serious performances of their careers, whilst the film offers a fast-moving look at the historical events of Ron Woodroof smuggling a banned drug to other AIDS patients. From the premise, it’s clear that this 2013 biopic deals with AIDS, drug addiction and the FDA, periodically through a very gritty and unpleasant tone, but the entire thing is staggering.

Powerfully and interestingly executing the true story through a film that doesn’t go past the 2 hour mark, director Jean-Marc Vallée completely and intentionally avoids involving a direct scene or sequence that’s ever uneventful, boring or won’t inform you on anything important. If anything, Dallas Buyers Club is actually quite hurried and could still maintain positive ratings if it had been extended a little more.

McConaughey and Leto are the true stars of the film, delivering such rough and real performances that almost feel unrecognisable compared to majority of the other roles they’ve done in other movies. Leto hasn’t been this astonishing since Requiem for a Dream and the two actors also devote significantly to the film by losing a large amount of weight and perfectly portraying their characters.

Dallas Buyers Club also persuasively depicts every thematic elements as it actually is. There’s loads of vile drug use, use of extremely derogatory language and utterly raw sex scenes, resulting in this movie being very uncomfortable and a difficult viewing. It’s nowhere near what child-friendly subject matter is. It’s extremely foul and depressing, but it’s exceptional must-watch biopic.

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