Review:
Dallas
Buyers Club is a good character drama built on a great leading performance.
The film is about Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician and rodeo bull rider who
contracts the HIV virus in 1985. Woodroof must face the social stigma of the
disease, and worse – he must fight against the pharmaceutical industry (having
both the FDA and medical community in their pockets) to get medication that
might actually help him and others (similarly afflicted).
The film functions both as a
character drama and a social/political drama. The character drama focuses on a
man who essentially loses everything and needs to rebuild his world anew.
Woodroof can be characterized as a man’s man. He works hard, but probably
parties harder, engaging in lots of illicit drugs, sex, and alcohol. This lifestyle
leads to him contracting the HIV virus, which in the 1980s was completely
associated by the general population as being a ‘gay disease’ (before HIV, it
was commonly referred to as GRID – gay-related immune deficiency). Thus,
Woodroof is suddenly stricken with not only the disease but a social stigma as
well, isolating him from his friends and the world he previously knew.
Director Jean-Marc Vallee
does a good job with the character moments. When the audience first meets
Woodroof, he is not a particularly likable character (especially when held to
modern social conventions). And yet, Vallee is able to show the humanity within
the man and the struggle he must take on, which the audience can relate to and
connect with – and from a place of compassion, they do. A transformation begins
both with Woodroof and the audience’s perception of him. Woodroof morphs into a
hero. While initially motivated by selfish needs, he ultimately becomes a
redeemed character and altruistic. And, the character flaws that the audience
may have initially seen as negatives suddenly become charming and a sign of
inner strength. Vallee takes an unlikable character and transforms him into a
heroic character that the audience cares about – no small feat.
Dallas Buyers Club is a very good
character drama, which is what it primarily functions as, but it is maybe an
even more interesting social/political drama. Character dramas built on strong
performances and similar narrative structures are somewhat common in Hollywood’s
pseudo-independent cinema, but this film also explores a topic that is not
commonly investigated in pop culture: the shameful corrupting of America’s
healthcare system by the pharmaceutical industry. People are probably peripherally
aware of how pharmaceutical companies manipulate healthcare providers and rig
the system, but there are not too many mainstream dramas that really get at the
heart of their unscrupulous practices (here are a few that touch on the subject
to varying degrees: The
Fugitive, Love
and Other Drugs, Brain Candy, Rise of the Planet of
the Apes, and The
Constant Gardener).
With Dallas Buyers Club, Vallee
does take a pretty direct approach to showcasing how the pharmaceutical
companies impede treating patients in favor of profits, but the focus is more
on the character of Woodroof than on the actions of Big Pharma. The issue here,
however, arises from the narrative featuring Big Pharma buying off doctors and
the FDA to promote its own drugs while condemning other treatments that might
actually save lives (while their drug, in the wrong dosage, was leading to
patients developing full blown AIDS as their systems were being ravaged by this
HIV treatment) is much more compelling than the character drama. Woodroof tries
to fight back, but he is too small. It might have been nice to see Woodroof as
one of many characters at different levels in the overall struggle to fight Big
Pharma in hopes of getting better HIV treatments to patients in America. This
is a narrative that is begging to be told, while character dramas narratively
structured like Dallas Buyers Club are common (not to take anything away from
Woodroof and the amazing work he did).
The result of these complementary
yet competing narratives is that Woodroof’s narrative starts to lose steam and
begins to feel drawn out and overly long, leading to the audience losing their
connection to the characters to some degree. Vallee’s narrative just does not
feel efficient and tight, which holds what is otherwise a great film from being
something special. The slow pacing dissipates the overall emotional impact of
the narrative, which is this film’s essential component in its ability to
resonate deeply with viewers.
Dallas Buyers Club ends up as
more an exhibition of a great performance than a great film itself. Vallee has
structured the whole narrative to support the lead performance (as well as a
couple principal supporting performances), but somewhat at the cost of making a
strong overall film.
Technical,
aesthetic & acting achievements: Jean-Marc Vallee is a director
gifted with the ability to garner strong performances and create a great visual
style for his narratives (which can also be seen in his films C.R.A.Z.Y.
and The
Young Victoria). Dallas Buyers Club offers what is probably Vallee’s most
visceral character work, but of his three best films it is probably the weakest
structurally. That said, I am really looking forward to his next: a character
drama called Wild
featuring writer Nick
Hornby scripting and Reese Witherspoon
starring.
Working with Vallee,
cinematographer Yves
Belanger and production designer John Paino
create a very realistic and rough visual style for the film. Belanger seems to
mostly rely on natural lighting sources while probably also employing some color
desaturation as well. The film looks a bit washed out, which fits tonally
really well. Paino’s design work finds Woodroof inhabiting what can only be
described as a very abrasive, grainy, and tough world. It also keeps everything
grounded in support of the performances, as everything looks natural.
As said above, Dallas Buyers Club
is built upon and centered on its central character/performance. However, there
are some good supporting performances as well. Griffin Dunne,
Denis O’Hare,
and particularly Kevin Rankin
are strong in small roles. Jennifer Garner
is good as Dr. Eve Saks, a doctor who follows Woodroof’s case and starts to buy
into what he is saying about other treatments. Garner is always good at mixing
a cute personality with a sense of inner strength and determination, which
servers her well in this role. Jared Leto
(after taking an acting hiatus) returns as Rayon, Woodroof’s partner in
establishing the Dallas Buyers Club to get medication to those in need, reminding
everyone of his talent. Rayon is a complex and troubled character (whose drug
addiction is ultimately his downfall despite all he knows about treating his
illness) and Leto plays him beautifully. Matthew
McConaughey is fantastic as Woodroof. 2013 has been a very strong year for
him as an actor. With Mud
and now Dallas Buyers Club (and he still has a supporting role in The Wolf of Wall
Street coming up in December), he has delivered two of his career best
performances. His Woodroof is scared underneath it all, but a scrappy fighter
to the very end, not to mention a bit of a charmer too (playing off McConaughey’s
natural charm).
Summary
& score: Dallas Buyers Club succeeds as a performance drive
character drama, but it feels like it could have been something much more. 7/10
