‘Beasts of No Nation’ Trailer: Idris Elba and Netflix Head Into Awards Season

Netflix may have an Oscar contender on its hands.

Beasts of No Nation, the new film from True Detective (season one) director Cary Fukunaga, just debuted at the Venice Film Festival, and the reviews are outstanding. TheWrap called it a “bold and harrowing drama.” The Guardian called Netflix’s big move into arthouse cinema “impressive” and said star Idris Elba “rules” in his role as an African warlord. This tweet from Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin was pretty representative of the overall response:

The film debuts on Netflix on October 16, and also in select theaters. That limited release will make it eligible for this year’s Academy Awards, and if the rest of the reviews are this good, you can expect some serious campaigning, particularly for Idris Elba, who’s still looking for his first Academy Award nomination. Here’s the official synopsis for the movie, which was written for the screen by Fukunaga and based on a novel by Uzodinma Iweala:

In a West African country, when civil war tears his family apart and militants kill his father, a young boy named Agu is forced to join a unit of mercenary fighters.

Netflix has already radically rewritten the rules of television. Now they seem poised to do the same with movies; their upcoming slate also includes a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the new Christopher Guest film Mascots. It’s certainly an interesting time for the evolution of cinema, whether you see it at home or in a theater.