As supplies get tougher to obtain, and new
drugs come on the market, Woodroof widens his
search worldwide to anyone and everyone who would
sell to him. The FDA would use every legal loophole
and obscure law on the Statute Books to seize all his
supplies and issue countless fines. Meanwhile at the
local hospital it is getting very obvious that patients
on the AZT trial are doing much worse than other
AIDS patients, but the authorities anxious to keep
receiving the much needed payments from the drug
companies are happy to suppress all the official
reports that confirm this, and the one doctor that
dares to question her bosses' ethics is fired.
It's a compelling
story told with
such passion and
authority that
both disturbs and
delights.
Unmissable. ∎
Dallas Buyers Club
is out at all good
Cinemas in the UK
★★★★
Woodroof unquestionably started this venture
purely to keep himself alive and to make money. He
succeeds with his first aim and lived 6 years after his
initial diagnosis of just 30 days, and as he gradually
got less paranoid of the gay community, he started
allowing some people to have the drugs even though
they couldn't afford the fee. It wasn’t as much that he
was any less of a homophobe, but as his own friends
totally rejected him out of sheer fear, he started to be
able to relate to being an outcast like his fellow AIDS
sufferers.
This film has been a long time coming.
Scriptwrters Craig Borten and Melisa
Wallack based it on the hundreds of interviews they
had with Woodroof, and then waited 20 years for the
movie to finally get made. Several directors and stars
were attached to it until it ended up in the hands of
Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallée whose claim
to fame (so far) is the film “C.R.A Z.Y”. His two
principal stars lost a ton of weight for the
parts; Jared Leto as Rayon dropped 30 lbs
and Matthew McConaughey a scary 50 lbs. They
both gave powerful dazzling performances which has
got them several acting awards including Oscar
Nominations. It was definitely a stunning change in
direction for McConaughey in particular, who has
established his career so far mainly in rom-coms, but
for my two cents it was Leto's heart-breaking turn as
the drug-addicted Rayon that totally bowled me over.
It makes one appreciate that Leto has been off our
screens far too long (5 years whilst he was touring
with his band).
Clubs like Woodroof's (there were others in other
cities) played an important role alongside the
wonderful ACT-UP movement to continually put the
FDA on notice, and without their unceasing pressure,
demands and activism, so many of the drugs that
would eventually help with people with AIDS would
never have been made available in time.
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY It's not just Ms. Streep who
shines, because one of the impressive things of this
ensemble piece, is there are several other meaty roles
which were filled by a striking array of A list actors.
Barbara was played by Julia Roberts and it was
great to see her back in a heavier part again, and her
siblings were played by Juliette Lewis and
Julianne Nicholson. Also in the cast were Ewan
McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepherd,
Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Margo
Martindale and even UK’s own Benedict
Cumberbatch who never seems off our screens these
days.
Despite all its darkness and its obsession with misery,
there are some wonderful flashes of comedy, which
occasionally lighten the tone considerably. Heads up
to not just director John Wells for this stunning
production, but also to cinematographer Adriano
Goldman for the moody visuals that made the whole
house in particular look so realistically inviting.
For me, movies don't get a lot better than this, and it
proves that once in a while the Hollywood system can
still produce something that gives you that real buzz
that is usually now only found in edgy indie films. ∎
★★★★
39
THEGAYUK FEB/MARCH
At every step of the way, he is aggressively pursued
by the FDA as even though none of the drugs/
proteins he sells are illegal, they have not been
officially approved - and the FDA, egged on by the
drug companies who fund them, want to keep total
control of every aspect. One of the ways to get around
the Law is not to actually sell the drugs themselves,
but sell memberships to his Club (for $400 a month)
and this entitles each member to have whatever
drugs they want.
2014
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