Beasts of No Nation

Agent Coulson

Netflix's first foray into original movies.

The film is scheduled to be released on Netflix globally on October 16, 2015

Agent Coulson

Released on Friday and getting great reviews.

Last trailer before it drops.

Technocentral

Brave choice, at least they aren't adding to the never ending list of super hero ****e for their first film.

It's getting Oscar nods written all over it, going by reviews so far. Definitely for Idris Elba. Also meant to be extremely tough to watch. That's what I like about Netflix, they know how to produce propert adult content.

JohnFalstaff

Is this getting a cinema release in Ireland? Or is it only going to be on Netflix?

Originally it was supposed to have a universal release date in cinemas and Netflix, but instead they released it in cinemas first. Wouldn't be surprised if it's getting a very limited release.

Zapp Brannigan

Difficult watch. But a really promising sign for Netflix in their move to feature films.

Don't know if Idris Elba will get an oscar but it was a good performance.

Right Turn Clyde

Deleted User wrote: »

That's what I like about Netflix, they know how to produce propert adult content.

Netflix purchased the rights to an already completed film. They weren't involved in the production. It was still a good move on their behalf though. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come.

ricero

I enjoyed the film but as an other poster said at times it was a difficult watch. Thought it was well casted and pacing was very good. One scene in particular at a bridge will have a lasting effect on people like it has me.

Tomagotchye

Didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Still, it was grand

The Black Oil

Unflinching and grim.

pheasant tail

Ok movie, found it hard enough to really connect with. Can't see how Idris Elba would ever be considered for an Oscar for that

Looper007

pheasant tail wrote: »

Ok movie, found it hard enough to really connect with. Can't see how Idris Elba would ever be considered for an Oscar for that

I think the young lad Abraham Attah as Aju is more deserving of a Oscar nod then Elba, who was very good in it. But Attah was out of this world. I thought it was a grim but it is a great watch and I would not agree with you that it was only "Ok". I think Best Director, Best film and Best actor for Attah. If Netflix keep making films of the quality of this then I gladly pay my way.

Duggy747

A good but grim story with gorgeous visuals and a very atmospheric soundtrack accompanying those moments of dread.

Idris Elba was great and entertaining but not Oscar-worthy for me, especially considering when it was Attah who had to carry the film and deal with a wider range of emotions as we had to watch him change with his surroundings.

That extended shot in the building involving the mother and daughter was, for me, the film's most grim and powerful moment (though it had plenty of them).

A good start for Netflix.

johnny_ultimate

Beasts of No Nation lacks a clear coherent vision, a handful of jarringly flamboyant sequences woven into an otherwise competent but unremarkable piece of work. Fukunaga is a showy director, but his extravagances draw attention to themselves rather than enhancing the material. His two long, tracking shots here feel too removed and cold to properly place us in the grim, violent moments they're capturing (although for a film featuring no shortage of atrocities, it overall feels peculiarly neutered). Its one foray into more artificial stylisation comes across as precisely that - a contrivance that fails to effectively portray what it is trying to do, and instead merely yells 'hey, look at this strange colourisation!'. These scenes are outliers, but indicative of the film's wider failings - it has been composed with care and admirable technical consideration, but the images ultimately lack weight, too frigid and fleeting to retain much in the way of staying power. The handful of genuinely powerful moments - a few telling close-ups, one effectively grating smash cut - are lightly concentrated over 130 minutes that very much feel like 130 minutes.

The subject matter is by its very nature weighty and of consequence, yet the narrative struggles to rise above its own inherent seriousness. There are certainly moments of insight and horror, but it is top-heavy with clichés and moments of familiarity. The film opens with the kids playing with an 'imagination TV', a fitting introduction to material that too often feels contrived and even cartoonish, which undermines the very real issues being portrayed. The spectres of better films haunt Beasts of No Nation as well. For a film about a child's descent into a war-torn hell and the accompanying loss of innocence, Come & See remains a standard-bearer, and also carries the level of aesthetic control lacking here. The epilogue in particular appears to channel The Thin Red Line, but that film's poetic ellipsis works because of Malick's total formal command throughout the film. Here, the attempts at more philosophical and psychological significance lack that crucial coherence. It's a film with the best of intentions but suffers in the execution - the performances, the direction, the writing, the cinematography are almost always 'fine', but rarely if ever much better than that.

If you only watch one notable film released exclusively on a streaming service this month? Well, Paul Thomas Anderson's Junun is still playing for a few weeks...

RDM_83 again

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Its one foray into more artificial stylisation comes across as precisely that - a contrivance that fails to effectively portray what it is trying to do, and instead merely yells 'hey, look at this strange colourisation!'.

That scene is actually a good indicator of how the film is strangely shallow, its a direct copy of this Irish photographers work

I wanted to like this film and I can't point to anything that was specifically bad in it, for such brutal and compelling subject matter I didn't get any emotional response. I have the feeling without the voice over it might have been improved.
I can see it winning lots of awards though, its about a worthy topic that has been ignored and the message is really heavily hammered home.

Slydice

Watched the film this evening.

Really well done.

Powerful, grim and very sad

Keplar240B

very similar to the
2008 film johnny mad dog

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042424/