Every A24 Movie, Ranked
Celebrating A 10-Year Anniversary
A decade ago this weekend, the indie label A24 distributed its first movie. (That title was the unremarkable A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, which hardly set the world on fire.) But they quickly established a reputation as the rare film studio with a brand identity of its own. The A24 logo became an imprimatur of quality — or, at the very least, something distinctive and singular.
As I learned from watching all 119 of the films A24 has released in the past 10 years1, there’s no single broad brush with which you can paint their slate — and that’s really exciting! A freshman feature from an emerging filmmaker feels just as much like an A24 film as a late work from an established master. A wild genre film can live under the same roof as a tightly controlled human drama.
There’s obviously wild variation in their ten years of releases — you’re bound to have some bad eggs in a pack of nearly ten dozen. But the overall phenomenon of a studio logo coming out of nowhere to mean something to a dwindling audience of art-house filmgoers deserves celebration in a space that has sorely lacked good news in the last decade. So, I masochistically ensured I had no blind spots in their filmography and present today … the first 10 years of A24, ranked.
Here’s the bottom tranche — none of which I’d recommend, and many of which are actively unwatchable. (I still demand Kevin Smith pay for what he did with Tusk, an actively traumatizing movie.) Toward the end of this group, you start getting some movies like Daniel Scheinert’s The Death of Dick Long or James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now that have a few decent elements but get overwhelmed by poor execution or misguided direction.
Now we’re in a territory where the passable trifles start to get mixed with top-tier A24 titles and their random titles distributed at the end of the 2010s in partnership with Directv. My rule of thumb at this level: if you’ve heard of the movie, it really disappointed me in a way compared to expectations (Close, While We’re Young, Lamb). If it’s an under-the-radar title, it’s mostly harmless but ultimately unremarkable.
Still some disappointing movies from heavy hitters in the mid-tier (Men, The Whale, Stars at Noon) along with some pleasant surprises that just don’t quite reach the level of greatness to get them any higher (Never Goin’ Back, The Monster, Gloria Bell). But the majority of the movies here are ones that I wanted to like but struggled to summon the enthusiasm that others could. Yeah, come at me on Uncut Gems, Midsommar, or The Witch — movies that have built up big cult followings among A24 devotees but left me somewhat cold.
Here’s where we start to get into the really good stuff. Frankly, most studios would be lucky to get one of these movies on their slate.
All of these are films I’d recommend giving a watch if you think the concept sounds interesting. Some of the higher profile titles here (Aftersun, Minari, The Farewell) are ones where I stop just short of the ecstatic raves they seemed to enjoy from most, but I still really admired them all the same. The smaller titles (Saint Maud, God’s Creatures, Morris from America) are ones that really impressed me with their skillful filmmaking but perhaps reached a ceiling preventing them from sitting at the highest A24 echelon. This is also where the projects of bold, bonkers ambition (Under the Silver Lake, The Green Knight, The Last Black Man in San Francisco) that you have to respect simply for existing — and to A24 for giving them a home.
And now … the god tier. My 24 favorite A24 movies, each described in 24 words or fewer.
Obvious Child (available on HBO Max): A comedy about abortion that’s proudly pro-choice but not overly preachy. Captures the bold, confessional spirit of stand-up effortlessly. Jenny Slate’s best role.
Moonlight (available on Showtime): A singular and influential calling card for Barry Jenkins that infuses poetic technique from global cinema to a neglected, underrepresented side of American life.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (available to rent): An animated triumph that teaches us to see magic lurking in the forgotten crevasses of everyday life. As charming as it is disarming.
Zola (available to rent): A thoughtful adaptation of social media storytelling into a rowdy, raucous cinematic adventure. Turns out Twitter is real life.
The Florida Project (available on Showtime): So attuned to the wants, needs, and aspirations of America’s poor population that even its shaggy format attests to Sean Baker’s intelligence and empathy.
The Souvenir Part II (available on Showtime): The biggest turnaround I’ve ever had from original to sequel. An exploration of the relationship between art and life that’s empty of lazy navel-gazing.
A Ghost Story (available on Showtime): Connects the dots into a circle to show how past, present, and future live within people and places. Lingers in and haunts my imagination.
mid90s (available to rent): The rare coming-of-age film that doesn’t just show you what it’s like to discover yourself – it gives you the feeling of doing it, too.
The End of the Tour (available on HBO Max): A crash course in David Foster Wallace studies that also makes for one of the best examinations of the tenuous critic-creator relationship.
The Rover (available on HBO Max): A post-apocalyptic journey through the Australian outback that makes for both an unlikely buddy adventure – and a potent reflection on what keeps us going.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (available on Showtime): Collapses both current storytelling trends and cultural overload into a spectacle of marvelous maximalism. Through any confusion and clutter, a big heart always beats.
Lean on Pete (available on HBO Max): A boy and his horse on the outskirts of the American West trying to find a place where they belong. An emotional gut punch.
The Bling Ring (available on Showtime): Stealthily one of the most incisive examinations of 21st-century American greed and class consciousness. Misunderstood as an endorsement, destined for reclamation one day soon.
20th Century Women (available on Showtime): Touchingly translates what we can never know about our times and loved ones into an illuminating cinematic experience. Mike Mills radiates sublime wisdom.
The Lighthouse (available on Showtime): A horny and horrifying buddy comedy – you read that right – about the trouble two men can get up together with no one else around.
Amy (available on HBO Max): A cautionary tale about the toxic nature of celebrity coverage. Never loses sight of the human toll – and isn’t afraid to implicate its audience.
Eighth Grade (available on HBO Max): Depicts middle school as the all-important and harrowing passage that it feels to anyone enduring it. Shows the darkness, but points to the light.
Under the Skin (available on HBO Max): The film likeliest to upend cinematic grammar from the last decade. A haunting meditation on our humanity that feels like observations from an alien.
Good Time (available on Showtime): A pulse-pounding race across New York that feels like a descent into hell itself with Robert Pattinson’s slimy, but weirdly sympathetic, Connie Nikas.
First Reformed (available on HBO Max): A cinematic prayer for troubled times, excavating what faith means in a time where God seems absent. Paradoxically urgent and patient.
The Lobster (available on HBO Max): A satire with bite about singleness and coupling through the uniquely weird stylings of Yorgos Lanthimos. An excellent litmus test for feelings about love.
American Honey (available on Showtime): Through compassion and collaboration, British director Andrea Arnold sees America for what it is. Be it horror, humanity, heart – it’s all here. Magnanimous and moving.
Lady Bird (available on Showtime): A flawless first solo feature by Greta Gerwig. Bursting with gratitude for every formative person and experience – and empowers us to do the same.
Spring Breakers (available on Showtime): It was a cultural reset. A defining millennial movie that shows the appeal of lifestyle and consumption envy before deconstructing and demolishes it. Masterpiece.
You can always keep up with my film-watching in real-time on the app Letterboxd. I’ve also compiled every movie I’ve ever recommended through this newsletter via a list on the platform as well.
More on Full Time below, but this soundtrack is an absolute banger:
Don’t think I’ve ever heard a guest lean into the interview with Marc Maron as much as Dave Franco did. A genuinely great listen:
If you want to dive deeper into M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin (a film for which my feelings run mixed-positive)…
Why the ending of the book is likely better (Slate)
Wrestling with the murky gay politics of the film (Vanity Fair)
Dave Bautista on why it’s a breakthrough for him (Uproxx)
What Rupert Grint has been up to (Bustle)
For The Playlist, I had the pleasure of reviewing the French drama Full Time, a thriller that makes the combo of commuting and job hunting feel like Uncut Gems. Highly recommend watching this if you get the chance.
I also reviewed Magic Mike’s Last Dance for them. Deeply proud that my proposed headline that it “Raucously Remixes Gene Kelly For The G-String Set” made the edit.
For Decider, I said skip it to Stromboli on Netflix.
Subscribers will be getting some additional fun commentary around A24 later this weekend!
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall
Methodological notes for my fellow nerds who care: I excluded co-distributed titles with Amazon, Apple, Showtime, and HBO — but made exceptions for titles like The Humans and After Yang which they did include in their FYC screener slate.
I love this!! What a great idea! And I like how you’ve broken the list down in chunks of 24. Very apropos!
It’s so interesting to analyze a production company’s body of work - a great reminder of the other creative “mind” that contributes to the final product.