Dallas Buyers Club

In 1986, the AIDS crisis was still a misunderstood horror, withering then taking its victims, alarming the public and confounding the doctors who sought a cure. In Texas, Ron Woodroof stood beyond the fear of AIDS. He was clueless. So when this boozing, foul-mouthed, womanizing heterosexual contracted HIV, his response was instinctive: Bullshit.

Dallas Buyers Club draws on his true story. When Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is told that he has only thirty days to live, he pleads with a doctor (Jennifer Garner) for what was then an experimental drug, AZT. But he refuses to submit to a clinical trial, so he steals the drug — taking his first dose with a beer chaser and a snort of cocaine. When the AZT dosage makes him sick, he seeks out alternative medicine. Never one to heed rules, Woodroof smuggles unapproved treatments over the border from Mexico. Along the way, he strikes up an unlikely alliance with Rayon, a sleek but troubled drag queen, played with stunning conviction by Jared Leto. The pair teams up to sell treatments to the growing numbers of HIV and AIDS patients unwilling to wait for the medical establishment to save them. It's a classic story of American enterprise.

Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Dallas Buyers Club marks a leap forward from his accomplished films C.R.A.Z.Y. and The Young Victoria. This is a tough portrait of an accidental activist, a homophobe who learns to work with, admire, and even love the gay men that illness brings into his life. As Woodroof, Matthew McConaughey delivers an unprecedented performance. His shocking weight loss is the first thing you notice, but it's his cocky spirit and wild, Texan humour that you'll remember.

CAMERON BAILEY