Matthew McConaughey has finally completed his transition that actors like Tom Hanks have done before him, moving from romcom’s (handsome man with an accent) to a serious actor with good choices. From TV’s True Detective to movies including Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street and now The Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey flexes his acting muscles and shows he is more than just muscles and a Southern accent. Let's dig in ...
It’s the 80’s and AIDS is seen as the gay plague, wiping out a lot of people whom society does not care about because they're “social deviants”. Then it hits heterosexual Ron Woodroof forcing him to strive for survival via self medication and importing non-FDA approved drugs from the 3rd world and Asia, whilst confronting his own prejudices.
Yes Matthew McConaughey is front and centre of this film, dishing his Southern charm we’ve seen in many other romcoms but he throws his heart into this performance in which he plays a very flawed bigot surrounded by bigots in a macho world. His weight loss - straight from the Robert De Niro/Christian Bale school of acting - is quite shocking but it's his performance that keeps it together.
You even forget you are watching Mr.Romcom man. Yet he's not the lone star. Jared Leto, who also moonlights as a rocker for 30 Seconds to Mars, is brilliant in this movie as the fictional Rayon. The man has transformed himself into the cross dressing gay-hag . He also sheds some body weight for the role so maybe Leonardo DiCaprio needs to find a role where he has to shed some weight to get that illusive Oscar that Leto and McConaughey got for Dallas Buyers club.
Moving right along ... Dallas Buyers Club comes in at a very interesting and sad time on the continent. Although, in the US, the film can be seen as a historical lesson on the missteps by the federal government, an examination of sexist and homophobic attitudes once so deeply entrenched in their society that it delayed government reaction in approving proper treatment for HIV and AIDS.
Unfortunately for us , issues surrounding the laws affecting lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are still an issue on the continent.
In Nigeria and Uganda as we speak, people are being jailed and stoned due to their sexual orientation. Out of the 55 countries on the continent 34 have laws against homosexuality . Dallas Buyers club shows insight into the life of those who have to live on the margins of society due to their sexuality and secondly due to a sickness that little was known about then.
Pity as Africans, of late, we seem to apply the principles of ubuntu when it suits us and treat the “other” as apartheid and colonization treated us when it suited them. Even with SA’s progressive laws and constitution we have a problem of violence towards LGBT groups.
The great triumph for me about Dallas Buyers Club, which the director Jean Marc Vallee keeps it low key, is the powerful idea of change. Change through exposure, by witnessing and sometimes experiencing, we too become changed.
The second idea of fighting and striving for what you want is a strong motif that runs in the film. Which I connected with. So if you want a history lesson, a great story, great performances, some laughter and tears thrown in the mix, check out the Dallas Buyers Club - it may not change your life but it will make you appreciate and question one or two things about the current status quo.
Rating: ****
*junk **almost bearable ***now we cooking ****almost perfect *****classic
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Trailer Watch
Transcendence
Johnny Depp is back in the Sci-fi genre in Transcendence. Man meets Artificial Intelligence plot and all goes haywire. Let's hope we're in store for a performance and not pantomime from Mr.Depp ala Pirates of the Carribean.
Felix
Twas the feel good trailer of 2013 for SA films, I still say the film comes off as condescending, “exhibit A” being the accents, but all will be revealed soon. Good thing I am fallable. So if you liked Spud and Billy Elliot ,this might be up your street.