"Beasts of No Nation" Trailer & First Reviews

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A

Akahige

Member
Main Trailer

US Release Date: October 16, 2015 (Netflix & Select Theaters)

Recently played at the Venice Film Fest.

Highlights of some Reviews:
Central to the film's power and success are the two lead performances. How a child actor could be coached to reveal and project the enormous range of reactions and emotions required for the role of Agu is practically unimaginable, but Attah is persuasive and true and constantly interesting to watch as a boy forced to endure extremes of experience to be wished on no one. The film would not have been worth making without a capable kid at its center, and the director found him.

Starting out with what could have been a cliched figure of a charismatic egotist lording over a bunch of helpless youngsters, Elba keeps revealing more and more layers of his troubled character, to the point where the Commandant begins to assume Shakespearean proportions as a Macbeth-like figure who may not really have what it takes to be a completely successful and enduring despot. The actor keeps pushing his characterization further and further to the rather surprising end, never taking the easy way.
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Fukunaga, whose work on “Jane Eyre” and “True Detective” cemented his reputation as one of the more gifted visual stylists of his filmmaking generation, brings the same level of artistry to bear on “Beasts,” which marks the first time he’s served as his own feature cinematographer. Shooting the richly varied landscapes of coastal Ghana in striking widescreen compositions that move from dust-choked village roads to verdant jungles to cleansing ocean tides, he draws us into a realm whose natural beauty feels at times like a provocation next to the sheer ugliness of what he shows us. The film’s richly immersive sense of local atmosphere is further aided by rich contributions from production designer Inbal Weinberg and costume designer Jenny Eagan, nailing the colorful, far-from-uniform dress code of the Commandant’s motley militia.
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More Reviews on Metacritic

Variety has a good article on the film:
As Fukunaga scouted locations in Liberia and Sierra Leone, he knew he had to shoot in West Africa to be authentic to his story. Insurance eventually cleared the production for Ghana, where a U.S. movie had never shot. Fukunaga’s casting director, Harrison Nesbit, arrived on the ground shortly before the production was set to begin to find the unknown locals who could carry the picture. Attah, who had never acted before, impressed Fukunaga by crying on command during an audition exercise. “He’s 14 — maybe 15,” Fukunaga says. “It’s hard to say. He would change his age depending on what he thought we wanted him to be.”

Fukunaga’s stories from the shoot sound like a cross between Jacques Cousteau and Huckleberry Finn. He says that on the Saturday before he was scheduled to start, he felt worn down. By Sunday, he was so exhausted he stayed in bed, and a doctor diagnosed him with stage-two malaria. “It’s like someone gave you a sleeping pill, along with a pounding headache and a hot-and-cold fever,” Fukunaga says. “My entire body ached. My kidneys were aching.” The production had to push back a week as the director recovered.

But getting malaria was only the first in a series of disasters for “Beasts.” The camera operator pulled his hamstring on the first day, which meant Fukunaga had to fill in on that job, in addition to his roles as director and cinematographer, using a Steadicam strapped to his back. Some of the extras playing the tribal guards were jailed in the Ivory Coast on suspicion of being mercenaries, and had to be sent money for food and clothes. Actors wouldn’t show up for work because they lost interest, forcing Fukunaga to crank out morning rewrites. The cast was terrified of poisonous snakes, and the director — who travelled through the jungle with a machete and a stick — nearly stepped on a black mamba that could have killed him.
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And for good measure Fukunaga talks his exist from "It" adaptation he was once attached to.
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
Sounds like an adventure. After all that, I'm glad the movie came out well. I was worried it wouldn't because it feels like all movies that I am excited for flop. I can't wait to watch this. I really appreciate the pursuit of authenticity.

Idris Elba needs to play Big Boss in a Metal Gear Solid movie.
 
F

Freedom = $1.05

Banned
Walpurgis said:
Sounds like an adventure. After all that, I'm glad the movie came out well. I was worried it wouldn't because it feels like all movies that I am excited for flop. I can't wait to watch this. I really appreciate the pursuit of authenticity.

Idris Elba needs to play Big Boss in a Metal Gear Solid movie.
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he's street but not anime street
 
S

Squalor

Junior Member
Nic Pizzolatto right now:
lOQs17m.gif
 
G

Gleethor

Member
Just reading the title made me think of MGSV, and then watching the trailer...wow. Looks great, will watch on Netflix for sure.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
given himself a week to recover from Malaria, what a trooper
Trailer has gripped me, I look forward to it. Certainly is visually stunning
 
X

Xe4

Banned
Walpurgis said:
What's wrong with Netflix? I'm pretty stoked about it since I can easily watch it immediately.
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Toa TAK said:
Settle for what? Netflix ain't free.
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B-Dex said:
Global instant streaming sure is a shitty deal indeed.
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Netflix isn't the problem. It's the shitty national theater chains which are refusing to show it cause it's also coming out on Netflix. Settle, as in not being able to watch it at the movies.
 
W

Walpurgis

Banned
Anton Sugar said:
Both Wikipedia and IMDb list Fukunaga as the DP. Mix-up or did he pull triple duty?
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I don't know what a DP is but it says somewhere in the OP that he is feature cinematographer.
Xe4 said:
Netflix isn't the problem. It's the shitty national theater chains which are refusing to show it cause it's also coming out on Netflix. Settle, as in not being able to watch it at the movies.
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Why would you want to watch a movie in theatres when it is on Netflix? :s
 
D

DontBeThatGuy

Member
Xe4 said:
Netflix isn't the problem. It's the shitty national theater chains which are refusing to show it cause it's also coming out on Netflix. Settle, as in not being able to watch it at the movies.
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That's how I watch most movies. So, yeah, I'm not seeing the downside here
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
doesn't seem to be a masterpiece, but I feel Elba is going to chew that scenery like a madman, can't miss this one if only for his acting
 
J

Jonm1010

Banned
Xe4 said:
Netflix isn't the problem. It's the shitty national theater chains which are refusing to show it cause it's also coming out on Netflix. Settle, as in not being able to watch it at the movies.
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Yeah it's pretty fucked up. I'm hoping that our smaller chain in town will get it.
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
I agree with JC tbh, it's a cool experiment but nothing beats theater experience imo

I'll try and catch this in theatres tho I doubt I can so I'm at least grateful that the Netflix option is there
 
T

Tugatrix

Member
Cary Fukunaga is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors, the guy has a discreet elegance in his style that I appreciate a lot
 
J

jett

D-Member
That looked really impressive. Fukanaga made a fantastic farsighting decision when he left True Detective. :p
 
S

siyatskyy

Neo Member
God, Elba is practically channeling Big Boss from the Snake Eater in that beret. And the scenes with child soldiers remind me of Raiden's story from Sons Of Liberty. I really need to get back into MGS ASAP.
Plus that shot with red leaves looks incredible - hope Fukunaga's operator skills are on a par with his directing talent.
 
W

WickedLaharl

Member
siyatskyy said:
God, Elba is practically channeling Big Boss from the Snake Eater in that beret. And the scenes with child soldiers remind me of Raiden's story from Sons Of Liberty. I really need to get back into MGS ASAP.
Plus that shot with red leaves looks incredible - hope Fukunaga's operator skills are on a par with his directing talent.
Click to expand...


is this a joke post
 
T

trixx

Member
Thought this was a Fela Kuti documentary based on title. Will definitely try to check this out though
 
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