Beasts of No Nation (2015)

[Ronin Jackson]

I watched this film last night on Netflix... it was great, and IMO ends the discussion about what was missing from season 2 of True Detective. Fukunaga is a master.

It's also significant for being the first film simultaneously released in theaters and on an SVOD service. If you have a chance to see it in theaters, take that chance even if Netflix is more convenient and cheaper (the cost of your ticket will probably be more than the cost of a monthly subscription). If only to support this kind of brave, uncompromising filmmaking. I don't like Netflix strategy, but I have to give them a lot of credit for choosing a film like this to launch their original feature film content. Yes it more or less makes up for the Adam Sandler deal. Particularly since I will just ignore those films.

[pandora spocks]

When somebody stops midpoint during a movie to give it praise, it must be one hell of a movie.  Netflix should make more movies like Beasts of No Nation instead of Adam Sandler belittling Native Americans. 

 

Idris Elba deserves an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of "Commandant."  He is alternately cold blooded and almost paternal--I emphasize almost--to the boys whom he trains to be efficient killing machines.   Abraham Attah does a standout performance as "Agu" the boy who sees his father and brother gunned down while defending their land.  Cory Fukunaga worked on the script for seven years before bringing it to the big screen.  Sometimes it takes time to bring quality to fruition. 

Edited October 22, 2015 by pandora spocks

[Ronin Jackson]

Good to see this film isn't being totally ignored. Even though they got quite a lucrative deal selling the film to Netflix, I can't help but feel it's not been good in terms of getting the film seen. As expected the theatrical release didn't make much money because people can see the film on Netflix, and it's hard to say how many people are actually watching it on Netflix (Netflix doesn't release the data). Not sure if the lack of discussion here is an indicator of one thing or another...

[Ronin Jackson]

http://deadline.com/2015/10/netflix-ted-sarandos-beasts-of-no-nation-3-million-viewers-idris-elba-cary-fukunaga-1201594344/

 

The film has apparently been viewed 3 million times in North America according to Netflix (I'm not sure how accurate their numbers are though... they generally don't release that data). If true that's a great number, Of course, it's no "Jem and the Holograms" in terms of inspiring discussion on this forum!