25. Spring Breakers (2012)
As one of A24’s first movies,Spring Breakersestablished its trademark use of “sensory” filmmaking as it explored an illicit urban underworld with visceral imagery. James Franco plays cult figure and eccentric drug dealer Alien, who makes a statement with his silver teeth and braids!
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine star as four party-loving rebel teens who are bailed out of jail by Alien—but at a price. Spring break isn’t all palm trees and drinking games for these girls as they go through the criminal underbelly of Florida.
Spring Breakersisn’t an Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed example of A24, but it was an important early film (literally their second release) for cultivating the company’s taste for sexually liberated tones, anti-heroes, cityscapes, and fuzzy cinematography.
24. The Witch (2015)
Here’s a great example of a horror film done in A24 style! Robert Eggers is the perfect director for an A24 flick, and this won’t be the only time you see his name on this list. With his knack for the creepy, old-fashioned, and artsy, Eggers brings us this haunting period horror.
Set in the 17th century, a Puritan family decides to hitch up in a remote forest where there are no other villagers around. They probably should have taken the emptiness as a sign…
A visually compelling and extremely unsettling supernatural thriller,The Witchstars Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin. While playing peekaboo with her baby brother, he suddenly vanishes into thin air and Thomasin is blamed for it by her own family.
Related:The Best Folk Horror Movies
23. The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
The first solo project by renowned Joel Coen of the Coen brothers (known forFargo,No Country for Old Men,The Big Lebowski) is based on that infamous Shakespeare play that we were all forced to read in school!
The Tragedy of Macbethfollows an 11th century Scottish lord who’s prophesized to become king by three witches. Denzel Washington stars as the overly ambitious Macbeth, alongside Frances McDormand as his famously scheming wife.
Shot in black and white with that iconic Coen polish, this is one of the more aesthetically pleasing adaptations of the play. A supernatural melodrama of the finest caliber, I definitely recommend watching this on the biggest screen you have access to!
Related:The Best Shakespeare Movies
22. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
The Last Black Man in San Franciscodefinitely deserves more attention, especially given that it was a directorial debut. Joe Talbot launched his filmmaking career to a stunning start with this A24 drama.
The architecture is as beautiful as the crisp cinematography, once again proving that A24 is an expert in the cinematic, the aesthetic, and the tonal. Contrasting bold and muted colors pay homage to the city, clearly the vision of a native director.
Prepare for chills down your spine when covers of Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco” ring out… even the instrumental versions! But what’s actually happening in San Francisco, you ask?
It’s not as literal as the title makes it out to be. Jimmie (played by Jimmie Fails as a fictionalized version of himself) is the last black man in San Francisco who won’t leave because if he does, it won’t be the same city to Mont (played by Jonathan Majors), his best friend left behind.
The Last Black Man in San Franciscois a deeply personal journey (semi-autobiographical of Fails’s life, who grew up with Joe Talbot) that explores the meanings of home, culture, identity, and goodbyes.
21. Ex Machina (2014)
A feminist sci-fi thriller full of plot twists,Ex Machinashows us the dark side of artificial intelligence—a progressively real threat in recent years.
When Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson) is given the golden opportunity to help out with an AI experiment, he quickly discovers that the investigation is not what he thought it’d be.
Alicia Vikander plays the strangely beautiful robot who’s held prisoner by an alcoholic CEO, and she’s far more self-aware than he imagined.
Filmed with a sort of glossy mechanical luster,Ex Machinais a slick piece of indie filmmaking from Alex Garland, who also directed another sci-fi standout inAnnihilationas well as A24’sMen.
Related:The Best Movies About Robots and Artificial Intelligence
20. Minari (2020)
Minariis a personal drama that’s semi-autobiographical of the filmmaker. Lee Isaac Chung and his family moved from South Korea to Atlanta to rural Arkansas in the 1970s—exactly where the Yi family end up in this film, who plan to live off the land.
Steven Yeun plays the optimistic father with a simple dream to sell Korean produce in Dallas. But there are bills, nature, and culture shock to deal with, which Jacob hasn’t properly considered. Plus, their young son has a serious and potentially fatal heart condition.
Minariis a tale about the complexities of family dynamics, conflicting mindsets, chasing dreams, and assimilating into a different country.
The sparing simplicity of the film awards it that deeper quality that many other family portraits lack, and this helpedMinarito bag six Oscar nominations. A24 is nothing if not intimate!
19. The Lobster (2015)
If you’ve seen any of Yorgos Lanthimos’s films—likeDogtoothor the 2018 Oscar-winning period pieceThe Favourite—then you’ll recognize his style right off the bat inThe Lobster.
The auteur director’s bizarre black comedy starring Colin Farrell is partly what propelled him into the limelight. Surreal and dreary,The Lobstertakes place in a dystopian future where single people are given 45 days to find a romantic partner or else be turned into animals. Permanently.
And as you can probably guess from the title, the protagonist chooses a lobster as his reincarnation sentence. Suffice it to say,The Lobsteris offbeat, artsy, and filmed with stylish precision. What more could you ask for from an A24 movie?
Related:The Best Black Comedy Movies
18. American Honey (2016)
Pack your bags, we’re going on a road trip! And I’m not talking about a family getaway to Disney World. InAmerican Honey, Andrea Arnold takes us through the American Midwest, where teen runaway Star (played by Sasha Lane) joins a band of sketchy magazine salesmen.
Most of the cast didn’t audition. Instead, Arnold searched streets and beaches for drunk teenagers who would fit their parts, and that includes Sasha Lane herself. Shia LaBeouf also appears as the unstable crew co-leader Jake, who invites young Star to join them for Kansas City.
Gorgeously filmed in a Super-8-style square ratio,American Honeywas a hit at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.
Related:The Best Road Trip Movies
17. Room (2015)
Imagine being trapped in one room for your entire life. Now imagine being a child growing up in that room, thinking it was the whole entire world. Well, that’s five-year-old Jack (played by Jacob Tremblay), who’s held captive with his mother by the mysterious “Old Nick.”
After years of isolation, the two make a daring escape that brings Jack into the real world. Brie Larson stars as Jack’s mother, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2016.
Based on Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel,Roomis sure to break your heart and inspire it back together again. It’s not just about breaking free and finding liberation, but the trauma that comes in the aftermath.
Related:The Best Movies About Trauma
16. The Florida Project (2017)
Sean Baker’s coming-of-age dramaThe Florida Projectis mainly filmed from the point-of-view of six-year-old Moonee, using low-angle shots and restricted narration to great effect.
Inspired by theOur Gangfilms (from 1922 to 1944), Baker wanted to make a film about the joy and freedom that can come from hardships, but without ignoring the relevant pressing social issues.
Brilliantly played by Brooklynn Prince, Moonee lives in a run-down motel with her single mother—a motel that’s, to her, the Magic Castle.
The brightly painted walls and the ability to run wild in the parks help ease the pain of Moonee’s poverty-stricken childhood, which comes under fire from the Florida DCF. Shot on opulent 35mm film,The Florida Projectis a sympathetic piece of independent cinema.
Related:The Best Movies About Mothers and Daughters
15. Hereditary (2018)
It’s increasingly difficult for horror films to stand out in the saturated, predictable genre, butHereditarymakes it look easy!
Whereas other filmmakers try too hard to shock with jump scares and supernatural twists, Ari Aster knocks the God-fearing socks off you quicker than a telephone pole through the window of a passing car.
Annie Graham (played by Toni Collette in a perfect portrayal of grief and anger) is conflicted about her mother’s death, with whom she’s always had a troubled relationship. Following her funeral, weird and tragic things begin happening to the Graham family.
Critics lovedHereditary(90% Tomatometer score) while moviegoers hated it (D+ on CinemaScore), which is sort of the trend with Ari Aster’s films. But who are you going to trust? Experts on moving images? Or some guy with a free afternoon and nothing else to watch?
14. High Life (2018)
Artsy ambient lighting meets sci-fi storytelling in Claire Denis’s avant-garde horror filmHigh Life. Not “high” as in happy and euphoric, but “high” as in floating around in space.
Told in nonlinear order,High Lifetakes us on a space mission gone wrong, in which a bunch of criminals are sent to serve their death sentence by extracting energy from a black hole.
Monte (played by Robert Pattinson) ends up being the only surviving crew member, who cares for his unexpected daughter while trying to find a way back home. Claire Denis’s English-language film debut is as dazzling as it is dark… and I love it!
Related:The Best Movies Set in Space
13. Waves (2019)
Tyler is an incredible wrestler, mainly due to the immense pressure his father puts on him, which all comes crashing down after an injury. The distraught Tyler turns to drug abuse and ends up splitting his world apart, serving time for second-degree murder.
Wavesis told in two distinct parts, each as jarring and tender as the other. The second half passes the baton to Tyler’s sister Emily, who learns the ropes of having a boyfriend for the first time.
Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, Alexa Demie, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Sterling K. Brown make up the ensemble cast, filling the screen with tense drama and blissful moments of joy.
Related:The Best Movies That Change Genre, Tone, or Characters Halfway Through
12. Uncut Gems (2019)
Seeing Adam Sandler in a serious role came as a shock to many viewers. Although he had technically dipped his toes into the waters of melodrama before, he never dove in to quite this degree. And the most shocking thing about it? Just how good he is!
Howard Ratner is a gambling addict who runs an expensive jewelry store in New York. When a rare black opal is uncovered in Ethiopia, Howard believes it could be his ticket out of debt.
The Safdie brothers direct this frantic film that has us running around NYC with fast-talking businessmen and slimy gangsters. The handheld camera approach perfectly matches the pace of this gritty crime-drama, which critics praised as Sandler’s best-ever performance.
11. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
Yorgos Lanthimos and Colin Farrell are back at it again, this time in a creepy psychological drama. When a surgeon befriends a troubled teenage boy, his family is put in the path of unforeseen danger.
The idiosyncratic director gifts us with his usual weird imagery and awkward silences, held together by vivid monochromatic cinematography.
Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan also star in this eerie horror, which sticks out like a sore thumb against Hollywood’s usual stuff.
The Killing of a Sacred Deercertainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s an excellent movie worth watching if you’re up for it.
Related:The Best Psychological Horror Movies
10. Mid90s (2018)
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut was a stunning success that perfectly encapsulated the vibe of the 90s skater scene.
Set in the skating capital of Los Angeles, 12-year-old Stevie (played by Sunny Suljic) buys a skateboard and joins a gang of older kids who introduce him to the rebellious world of adolescence.
Mid90scould easily pass for a film from the VHS era given all the texture it achieves. You can almost feel the sweat and sun shining off the open rooftops. A nostalgic coming-of-age tale tinged with darker themes, Jonah Hill knocked it out the skatepark with this one.
Related:The Best Slice-of-Life Movies That Don’t Really Have Much Plot
9. The Green Knight (2021)
Filmmakers love to experiment with Arthurian folklore, which we saw with Guy Ritchie’sKing Arthur: Legend of the Swordin 2017. More recently, David Lowery gave us his bold and poppy reimagining of Camelot, in which King Arthur’s nephew is challenged to duel the Green Knight.
Here’s the catch: any blow that Gawain (played by Dev Patel) delivers, he will receive back on himself one month later. So, probably not a good idea to chop his head off, then…
Dev Patel gives a miraculous performance as the young knight on a quest for fate, showing off how far he’s come as an actor since his days on the UK teen seriesSkinsin 2007.
Related:The Best Medieval Fantasy Movies
8. Good Time (2017)
Robert Pattinson is known from his interviews as one of the quirkier celebrities… which means he’s perfectly suited for A24 roles. The Safdie brothers wow us yet again with another A24 collaboration, this one saturating the urban darkness with red neon lights.
When Connie (played by Robert Pattinson) persuades his mentally handicapped brother to rob a bank, a dye pack gets them into trouble. Determined to get him out of jail, Connie navigates a multitude of high-rises, drug dens, and theme parks for the $10,000 bail.
A frenzied visual treat that definitely wasn’t a “good time” for either brother,Good Timeis worlds above most crime thrillers.
Related:The Best Movies About Brotherhood
7. Aftersun (2022)
A24 films tend to fall into one of three categories: achingly sad and nostalgic; disturbing and scary; or wrapped up in seedy criminal nightlife. All with a touch of the experimental.
Aftersundefinitely falls into that first category, as you can probably infer from the grainy, disposable camera snapshot that is the poster.
Charlotte Wells’s directorial debut splices in clips from the father-daughter holiday shared by Sophie (played by Frankie Corio) and Calum (played by Paul Mescal), recorded on Sophie’s MiniDV.
This glitchy footage, alongside cryptic shots of Calum dancing in a strobed nightclub, interrupt the narrative of their wholesome but bumpy vacation in Turkey.
Reflections—mirrors, windows, screens—are interwoven as metaphors for self-reflection, as an older Sophie (semi-autobiographical of Charlotte Wells herself) meditates on the events ofAftersun.
The still shot of a hotel TV reflection and the self-help books stacked beside it are particularly impactful, as is the heart-wrenching conclusion that has a similar, sadly ambiguous vibe to Paul Mescal’s other movieAll of Us Strangers.
Related:The Best Movies About Fathers and Daughters
6. The Souvenir (2019)
The second installment of Joanna Hogg’s dreamy romance drama didn’t make much noise, but it’s still worth checking out! Before you do, though, make sure you catch up on the first one.
A hazy and picturesque melodrama that floods us with blurred lights and painting-like still shots,The Souveniris a must-watch for art students. After all, Julie (played by Honor Swinton Byrne) is a film student who’s struggling to make a movie about her life in Sunderland. (In fact, this film is modelled on Hogg’s own life.)
After meeting a very wealthy businessman, Julie develops a volatile relationship because they’re from very different classes and social circles.The Souveniris a nuanced piece of carefully crafted cinema that reached worldwide critical acclaim upon release.
5. Midsommar (2019)
If there’s one thing A24 knows how to do right, it’s horror. The notoriously predictable genre has a hard time producing original stories, but Ari Aster found success withMidsommar.
Originally intended to be a standard slasher film, the cult-centric horror film takes a unique turn when it ends up taking place in the Swedish hills during midsummer celebrations.
Florence Pugh stars as the innocent outsider, who joins the creepy folk commune for the benefit of her boyfriend (who studies cultural anthropology). Big mistake! A couple of magic mushrooms and public suicides later, Dani quickly comes to regret her visit.
Related:The Best Movies About Creepy Cults
4. Lady Bird (2017)
Greta Gerwig was already doing pretty well for herself before the release ofLady Bird, but this film made her a hailed feminist filmmaker with a calling for all things womanhood and coming-of-age.
There seems to be a pattern in A24 of directors creating odes to their childhood towns, and this one transports us to Sacramento, California in the early 00s. Although none of these events actually happened to Gerwig, she was inspired by her upbringing in Sacramento.
Lady Birdisn’t just a perfect example of the teen misfit character study (with an endlessly likable Saoirse Ronan at its core, who dreams of New York and demands to be called Lady Bird instead of Christine) but also a great mother-daughter movie with lots of wit, nostalgia, and energy.
Related:The Best Teenage Girlhood Movies
3. The Lighthouse (2019)
Robert Pattinson shows his A24 face again, this time with co-star Willem Dafoe. Shot on startling black-and-white 35mm film,The Lighthouseis a period piece like no other.
In the 1890s, young Ephraim Winslow (played by Robert Pattinson) arrives at an isolated lighthouse to serve as a temporary “wickie.” His only companion is the eccentric ye-olde-sailor-speaking lighthouse keeper, who drinks too much and leaves all the bad jobs to Ephraim.
Ephraim is forbidden from accessing the lantern room, and the building begins to creak and tremble with omniscient forces, all while mythological beings wash up on the shore.
Robert Eggers’s indie horror is a take on Edgar Allan Poe’s unfinished poem “The Light-House,” and it’s truly a wonder to behold.
Related:The Best Modern Black & White Movies (From 2000 and Later)
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Everything Everywhere All at Oncedidn’t just win Best Picture, but also Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Not to mention four more nominations… Jeez!
With a list of accolades longer than the credits—well, not literally, but the team was remarkably small compared to its grandiose vision—A24 has no problem making sure everyone knows they were the ones who distributedEverything Everywhere All at Once.
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert mix together topics like existentialism, absurdism, nihilism, and dadaism with some generational trauma and sexual liberation in this mind-bending epic about a laundromat owner who jumps across parallel universes to save the world.
Related:The Best Movies With Incredible Cinematography
1. Moonlight (2016)
I’m not just puttingMoonlightin the number one spot because it won Best Picture. It’s genuinely one of the best films to come out since the turn of the millennium.
Inspired by Tarell Alvin McCraney’s unpublished playIn Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, this semi-autobiographical movie has been hailed a masterpiece. Filmed in a triptych structure,Moonlightshows us a sliver of one man’s life in three parts: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Being a gay black man in Miami during the crack epidemic isn’t exactly a walk in the park, and that’s portrayed with elegance here. Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, and Alex Hibbert star as the three versions of Chiron, who uses his past and his identity to carve a life for himself.
Related:The Best Movies by Black Filmmakers
A24 Honorable Mentions
After the success ofPriscillaandAll Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, everyone is now excited for A24’s upcomingThe Iron Claw,Love Lies Bleeding,MaXXXine,Civil War,The Zone of Interest,Problemista, andSing Sing. (Some have already been released in the US.)
Still looking for more films? Here are several other A24 honorable mentions worth checking out:
