Over 10 years, A24 has revolutionized the landscape of independent filmmaking. Founded in 2012, their first film, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, was released in February of 2013. That same year, the studio struck a multi-year distribution deal with Amazon Prime.
Now, in 2022, A24 has released over 115 films internationally, accumulating various awards and accolades for its filmmakers along the way. The company has committed itself to amplifying the voices of rising visionaries—championing movies that disrupt mindless consumption and advocating films for underserved audiences. In its wake, A24 has left a streak of truly profound stories. Their next film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, is scheduled to release this summer, on June 24, 2022.
10 Under The Skin (2013) Is A Haunting Horror Film
Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an extraterrestrial disguising herself as a woman who drives around Scotland and lures unsuspecting men into her van.
With mesmerizing imagery and an absorbing performance from Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin deliberately challenges the audience—almost forcing them to stay along for the ride. Jonathan Glazer directs an alarming, arresting science-fictioner that sits somewhere between an erotic poem and a road movie, where pleasure and fear coexist. A genre oddity of utmost excellence, Under the Skin is one of A24's best films.
9 Uncut Gems (2019) Is A Grungy Crime Thriller
Written and directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler as a gambling addict in New York City's Diamond District. Lakeith Stanfield, Kevin Garnett, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, and Eric Bogosian star in supporting performances.
Brilliantly exhausting and anxiety-inducing, Uncut Gems affirms the Safdie brothers' place in Hollywood as masters of their craft. Every scene is infused with pure frenetic energy, perfectly calibrated to deliver an absorbing, engrossing thrill ride. Adam Sandler turns in the finest performance of his career, alongside a career-making performance from Julia Fox.
8 Good Time (2017) Oozes Pure, Untamed Energy
Directed by the Safdie brothers, Good Time stars Robert Pattinson as a bank robber who launches himself into a nightlong odyssey after a failed heist. Evading capture through the streets of New York's dark and dangerous criminal underbelly, he stops at nothing to free his developmentally disabled brother (played by co-director, Benny Safdie) from prison.
Anchored by a career-best performance from Pattinson, whose Manson-eyed character manipulates and mesmerizes everyone in his path (including the audience), Good Time blends brilliant cinematography with manic editing and a pulsating score to create a fatigue-defying, wildly inventive, chaotic crime thriller. The film's rave-like aesthetic and docu-style filming feels like a throwback to the late 60s and 70s, evoking some of cinema's best crime thrillers.
7 The Florida Project (2017) Charms With Warmth And Wit
Written and directed by Sean Baker, The Florida Project features an ensemble cast (many appearing in their first film credit) headed by Willem Dafoe. The film follows six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her two best friends (Valeria Cotto and Christopher Rivera) who forge their own adventures in Kissimmee, Florida.
From its very first frame, The Florida Project pulls the audience into a slice-of-life plot that feels every bit as real as it does raw. Director Sean Baker captures a colorful world, despite its poverty-stricken inhabitants, whom he never judges or pities for their actions and choices. Containing a curious species of warmth and compassion, The Florida Project chooses to disregard the importance of social status in place of honoring life's nuances.
6 Ex Machina (2014) Is A High-Tech Thriller
Written and directed by Alex Garland in his directorial debut, Ex Machina follows a programmer (played by Domhnall Gleeson) who is invited by his CEO (Oscar Isaac) to administer the Turing test to an artificially-intelligent humanoid robot (Alicia Vikander). Sonoya Mizuno, Gana Bayarsaikhan, and Corey Johnson co-star in supporting performances.
Ex Machina is a beguiling science-fiction thriller that takes familiar concepts and presents them in a deep, complex imaginative way. Alicia Vikander's turn as Ava is nothing if not mesmerizing; her character internalizes the torment of being considered inferior to her male oglers. Alex Garland directs with unbelievable confidence, crafting a film that acts as an engine for profound parables about the state of humanity.
5 The Lighthouse (2019) Leads With Powerful Performances
Directed by Robert Eggers, The Lighthouse helms a contemporary take on Edgar Allan Poe's unfinished story, The Light-House. The film follows the unraveling of two lighthouse keepers (Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe) who descend into madness after a storm strands them on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
Hybridizing elements of psychological cinema with the survival/horror genre, The Lighthouse crafts a compelling character study that offers a bleak, esoteric, mind-bending trip to the edges of delirium. Pattinson and Dafoe strike a perfect tonal balance, bound together by Egger's expertly rendered atmospherics that shroud the film like fog rolling onto the shore. Heightened by Hitchcockian levels of anxiety and dread, The Lighthouse is a stone-cold masterpiece from A24.
4 Eighth Grade (2018) Is Beautifully Earnest And Awkward
Written and directed by Bo Burnham in his directorial debut, Eighth Grade follows the life of Kayla, played by Elsie Fisher, as she struggles with anxiety and strives to gain confidence during her final week of middle school.
The real genius of Eighth Grade lies in its compassion to examine adolescence with real honesty and sympathy. Bo Burnham fashions a film that cuts across generational boundaries, speaking to everyone, regardless of its subjective specificity. Earnest, sweet, awkward, and beautifully observed, Eighth Grade is one of the best coming-of-age films from its respective decade.
3 Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) Is Absurdly Witty
Written, directed, and co-produced by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once stars Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese-American woman who must channel her newfound powers when an interdimensional rupture unravels reality and threatens the destruction of the multiverse. Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis co-star in supporting roles.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a ridiculously entertaining film that embraces its eschatological themes to produce an outrageously fun viewing for all audiences. At its core, the film is an artisanal blockbuster, supercharged with martial arts and solid kung-fu action. The "Daniels" take the surreal subject matter and fashion it into an absurdly witty film that cruises through an unpredictable journey of pop existentialism.
2 Lady Bird (2017) Examines The Relationship Between Mother And Daughter
Written and directed by Greta Gerwig in her solo directorial debut, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as Christine MacPherson. Navigating a loving but turbulent relationship with her strong-willed mother (Laurie Metcalf), Christine nicknames herself "Lady Bird" during her final year at high school.
Lady Bird captures the turbulence of growing up with great authenticity and grace. Saoirse Ronan's stunning portrayal of adolescence is brought to life opposite Laurie Metcalf, whose push-pull dynamic encapsulates something very real, raw, and honest about the relationship between mothers and daughters.
1 Moonlight (2016) Is A Monumental Piece Of Moviemaking
Written and directed by Barry Jenkins, Moonlight explores the life of Chiron across three stages of his life: childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood—played by Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes, respectively. The film depicts the difficulties Chiron faces with his sexual identity, as well as the physical and emotional abuse he endures growing up.
Director Barry Jenkins radiates a type of poetry in his storytelling, crafting a film that beats with a very human heart. Right from the first frame, Moonlight makes its impact known; a reaffirmation of African American culture told through a different perspective and understanding. The dialogue is nothing short of exquisite, but the film's most powerful moments come from sequences of silence, that which reflect and comprehend Chiron's reality. Moonlight is A24's finest film and one of the most important movies of all time.