Beasts of No Nation (2015)

[Plain Old Tele]

Discuss.

[Rorschach]

A-grade work from everyone involved. Idris Elba is fantastic and I will not be surprised if he is nominated for his role.

A

[Travod]

I'm very happy that film has progressed to the point where every movie simply looks SO PRETTY.

[TStechnij]

Masterpiece. Attah might have the strongest male performance of the 2010s.

Edited October 17, 2015 by TStechnij

[Travod]

Masterpiece. Attah might have the strongest make performance of the 2010s.

 

wat

[TStechnij]

wat

I can't think of any that immediately strike me as better. I thought maybe Her, but I'll have to reflect at a later time.

[CoolioD1]

The kind of movie where for the first hour I'm like "oh shit, I'm watching a really great movie" and then for the second hour I realise "oh ok, I'm just watching a pretty good movie" and then it sort of peters out at the end.

The kid is great though. That last speech he gives to that counsellor is like whoa.

[TStechnij]

The kind of movie where for the first hour I'm like "oh shit, I'm watching a really great movie" and then for the second hour I realise "oh ok, I'm just watching a pretty good movie" and then it sort of peters out at the end.

The kid is great though. That last speech he gives to that counsellor is like whoa.

Initially I thought it "petered out" too, but that epilogue really sticks with me. And the scene where Agu is daydreaming and everything turns purple.

I have a lot of thoughts about this film. I'm having a review that I wrote this morning published tomorrow. But since then, I've thought of even more reasons I've loved it.

[Jake Gittes]

Eh.

[The Panda]

I watched it and it just left me sobering in a way. Its a wake up call that shows you up front how devastating these wars in Africa are that we barely see on the news. The performances are incredible, and the film left me utterly still and made me contemplate on everything I saw.

Technically speaking, it is gorgeously shot and very well-acted. In fact it was bolstered by the two strongest performances I've seen this year so far. Attah and Elba are both Oscar worthy in these roles, and some of the final speeches Attah gives are heart wrenching.

The film is definitely worth a watch, and it's not one that I think I could bring myself to watch again. While it gives some glimmer of hope at the very end, everything is just so melancholy throughout and watching horrors happen and go by (while realistic) is not something that's easy to watch.

It's very well-made and I hope Netflix continues to push quality original releases like this.

A

[Goffe]

It begins and ends interesting, but everything in the middle is nothing that I haven't seen before in countless movies with the same thematic. You would think some scenes were directed by Iñárritu and his thirsty for misery porno. 60/100

Edited October 24, 2015 by Lucas Marmol

[WrathOfHan]

I'll echo what others here have said that it starts strong but peters out in the second act. Idris Elba and Abraham Attah are great in here and Fukunaga's direction is good, otherwise it's an average movie. B-

[Jake Gittes]

The reason this movie doesn't work for me is that, having taken the perspective of a child soldier, it ends up becoming as desensitized to everything as he is - a collection of overedited scenes that almost never focus and linger on anything long enough to convey the horror and madness and tragedy of the situation. Attah does give an excellent performance, but it's telling that he makes most of the impression in the first hour and in the very end; the movie doesn't really rely on his acting in the middle, and it never gets into the heads of the other child soldiers, all of whom are complete blank slates just staring into the distance while the viewers conveniently project whatever emotions they have onto them. The cinematography and color palette, except for several scenes, are dry and flat, the ambient score is not only unnecessary and intrusive, but downright lazy in how it deliberately avoids making you feel anything in particular, and the narration, besides seeming like an afterthought, quickly turns into second-rate Malick that sounds completely out of place. The entire thing just seems stuck in a creative and emotional limbo - a journey through Hell with little to no genuine pain or anguish, devoid of risks, directed in a single mode of bland, somber, detached professionalism that turns extremely potent subject matter into 2+ hours of whatever. 

Edited October 24, 2015 by Jake Gittes

[Blankments]

It was okay. Attah was great, Elba was decent, but a bit overhyped. There's some cool shots, but ultimately, it just kinda isn't horrific enough while being too over-the-top at points. We don't really get into Agu's head and that's a huge shame. I don't know about this one. B

[4815162342]

It was good, second half definitely weaker than the first. Felt a bit too a to b to c to e in structure. We never got a good sense of anyone outside of Agu.

[Belakor]

Second watch.

Easily one of the best movie in years, all actors deliver something special to watch.

Photography is the best I´ve watched for a war film, I was amazing how good technically filmed this is, competes with The Revenant

as the best looking movie of 2015 IMO.

Completely destroys the perception of humanity you have , teaches you the true nature of the war in men.

My only issue with the flim is that the 3rd act feels too slow, but that ending scene completely vindicates the wait.

The complete, total Snub at the Oscars still makes me angry.

A

[Belakor]

On 23/10/2015 at 0:19 AM, The Panda said:

I hope Netflix continues to push quality original releases like this.

Me too, but hard to do if Hollywood is boycotting your movies because it threatens their business model.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Belakor