Matthew McConaughey has
been on a tear recently: “Lincoln Lawyer” and “Mud,” etc. (I have yet to see “Magic Mike.”) He dives into the true-story Fight
the System AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club” with a live-wire nerve and swagger
that is awesome to behold, it’s near terrifying. This guy burned many years in terrible,
Xerox rom-coms. Now he’s killin’ it.
Unrecognizably taunt and spoiling for a fight,
McConaughy is Ron Woodroof, a swinging, swaggering, swearing Dallas country boy
with a knack for liquor, threesomes with women, gambling, and generally burning
life out before he hits 50. Then he learns he has HIV. In 1985. Back when no
one knew what the fuck HIV or AIDS was and I (hating myself now) joined in on
Rock Hudson jokes.
Ron is a good ol’ boy, would vote GOP if he voted, and hates homosexuals. When word leaks on his health, family and friends bolt, tag him queer, and he has 30 days to live.
Ron is a good ol’ boy, would vote GOP if he voted, and hates homosexuals. When word leaks on his health, family and friends bolt, tag him queer, and he has 30 days to live.
But the man won’t die. Not yet.
He blows off
Big Pharma cell-killer-med AZT and finds better drugs over the border, and with
the help of a waif transgendered woman (Jared Leto of “Requiem for a Dream”),
he brings those meds to the U.S. And then he fights the protectors of profit. The
FDA.
Don’t think this an AIDS drama, mark this next to “Silkwood” or, dare I
say, “Rocky.” Unlikely heroes. I understand much of the story here is
fictionalized. Well, it’s damn fine, smart fictionalizing that rarely falters.
(Jennifer Garner plays a doctor written so tidy bland, a hand-holder surrogate for old church-going ladies in the audience, I cringed every time her face appeared. Not a slam to the actress. I like her. But the writing.)
(Jennifer Garner plays a doctor written so tidy bland, a hand-holder surrogate for old church-going ladies in the audience, I cringed every time her face appeared. Not a slam to the actress. I like her. But the writing.)
This is McConaughey’s show
as he bullies, taunts, rages, screams, cries, takes a pistol to his head, and just
chars the screen black with his walk and burning eyes. Remarkable. Leto also nails his
tragic, beautifully penned role, deteriorating into nothingness.
(Both men deserve every award they have coming their way, although I pitch a preference to “12 Years a Slave.”)
(Both men deserve every award they have coming their way, although I pitch a preference to “12 Years a Slave.”)
The finale -–
that we all know is coming, history -- might not punch the emotional button we
need to leave weeping, but it comes close. A-
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