A24 has been distributing movies for just over a decade now, and in such a short time, the company has already earned a reputation. For some, that reputation is for putting out quality films; for others, it’s for putting out pretentious ones; and for others still, it’s a mix of both. You’ve probably heard of some of A24’s more well-known movies — those like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Moonlight, Lady Bird, Hereditary, X, and Uncut Gems have garnered acclaim and popularity, some even going on to be nominated for and win Oscars, including Best Picture. But the studio also has a deeper catalogue, one which has many hidden gems. So with the release of Death of a Unicorn, we got together to talk about some of our favorite underrated and underseen A24 movies. Let us know your favorites @SiftPop!
Few subjects manage to capture the fascination quite like extreme sports. Taking a deep dive into what drives someone to push themselves to the limit, when the consequences of a mistake can be deadly, provides instant investment. The Netflix/A24 documentary The Deepest Breath explores the sport of freediving, where the objective is to — in one breath — swim as deep as possible before coming back to the surface. It’s a breathtaking piece of filmmaking from writer/director Laura McGann. The photography, helmed by cinematographer Tim Cragg, is stunning. Whether it’s capturing the stunning locales at which these dives largely take place, or the dark underwater depths the divers sink to, it’s a feast for the eyes. The way the documentary is structured somehow manages to make you hold your breath right alongside those on the dive. Repeatedly, it’s impressed upon the viewer how dangerous freediving is — even for the most accomplished of divers. Everything, from the music to the tone of the interviews, slowly makes it feel like your lungs are being compressed over the course of the runtime. There’s a tension that builds in your chest just waiting to be released, a sense of foreboding that’s always there in the back of your mind. As it builds toward its looming conclusion, the sense of unease gradually grows until the emotional sledgehammer is finally dropped. (Jake Bourgeois)
It’s frustrating when people cite “A24” as an aesthetic, like it’s a director or a production designer, but one of the reasons that some do that is because the company has cultivated a unique all-encompassing vibe that the majority of their releases emulate — sometimes slow, oftentimes methodical, very often strange and offbeat (across any number of genres). Lamb is one of their international imports (a co-production between Sweden, Poland, and Iceland), and in addition to being the most popular movie on Letterboxd in the Icelandic language, it fits very well into the A24 oeuvre of the strange, the bizarre, and the divine. It comes to us courtesy of writer/director Valdimar Jóhannsson and executive producer Béla Tarr (best known for slow-moving vérité pieces like Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies), and stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Icelandic farmers who discover a strange lamb/human hybrid among their flock of sheep. What follows is a surreal nightmare, set against the idyllic backdrop of one of the most beautiful and remote places on the planet. The pace never feels too slow, the creature effects are incredible, and the atmosphere is pristinely maintained. Do yourself a favor and check it out — it might chill you to your very core, and it might also make you think twice about eating lamb chops for your next home-cooked meal! (Rowan Wood)
With one location, one on-screen actor, and events all shown in real time, Locke is about as minimalist as it gets. It puts the main character in a very relatable situation: a long car journey. Even though not everyone drives, we’ve all been in a vehicle on a long road trip somewhere. Driving gives you freedom; for a few hours, you don’t need to trouble yourself with anything other than following the road. That’s not the case for Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy); however, as he drives from Birmingham to London to witness the premature birth of his illegitimate child, he has many difficult things to sort out. Locke abandons his job the night before a significant event, and leaves his family while also confessing to his wife over the phone that he has cheated on her. Everything about Ivan and his relationship with other people is told through his various phone calls, and you entirely understand his misery and the frustration of those he is talking to. As Ivan’s situation progressively worsens, you feel the tension and anxiety with every phone call. By the end of the story’s events, Ivan has lost his job and wife, but he feels it is worth being there for his unborn child. I only wish I could remember phone numbers without writing them down the way Locke can. That was impressive! (John Tillyard)
It might seem like George Miller has the exclusive rights to all post-apocalyptic dystopian films set in Australia, but David Michôd certainly had something to contribute with his brutal and visceral film The Rover. This is an even bleaker and brutal world than the colorful and wild wasteland of the Mad Max franchise. The Rover has grit in every frame, and an intensity that is hard to match. The story of two unlikely confidants in the remnants of the Outback is quite compelling. Guy Pearce is an intense and dangerous loner who desperately needs his vehicle back. He comes into possession of Robert Pattinson’s Rey, whose criminal brothers lose him in the wild land of this tale. The two lead performances are nothing short of impressive, with Pearce delivering an impactful and mysterious story. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, with some shocking and unexpected conflicts. A mystery looms over the narrative, delivering an ultimately impactful moment. This is a loose narrative, but the journey is dark, impactful, and engrossing. The Rover has flown under the radar, and deserves to be experienced in all of its brutal and stark glory. (Shane Conto)
I love Kelly Reichardt’s movies because of their patience. She gives her characters and events time to breathe, and that’s fully apparent in her 2022 outing, Showing Up. It’s about Michelle Williams’ (a frequent Reichardt collaborator) Lizzy, a sculptor with an upcoming exhibition. The film demonstrates the slow, often frustrating life of a smalltime artist like Lizzy, as she struggles to communicate with her landlady, lacks hot water, and nurtures an injured bird back to health. They’re slow, sometimes grueling processes, but showing up is valuable in and of itself. Doing the work is what matters, and by the end, you allow the bird to fly away. (Robert Bouffard)
In 2021, A24 released a unique biographical documentary covering the life and career of a dynamic actor you may have heard of…Val Kilmer. Val differs from most documentaries that cover individual careers in that Kilmer himself filmed almost all the footage himself over decades of his personal life and onset career. Partially self-narrated, and supplemented by audio read by his son Jack, Val explores Kilmer’s childhood through present day, jumping back and forth as it travels through his career chronology. But this is not just a timeline of events — Kilmer explains in his own words (some in the original footage, and some looking back from the present) how he felt, his preparation for roles, what was happening in his personal life, and so much more. Definitely a must-see for fans of Top Gun, Tombstone, The Doors, and Batman Forever, even those with a surface familiarity of Kilmer’s work will find this an interesting watch as an exploration of life experiences and how Kilmer dealt with each event and its effects on his life. (Patrice Downing)
If you’ve seen one Noah Baumbach movie, you know what to expect from the others’ tone. That is, until White Noise came out at the end of 2022. Unlike his other movies, which are coming-of-age stories about adults (and coincidentally how his upcoming movie Jay Kelly is being described), White Noise is a Baumbach version of a Spielberg movie. It’s a science fiction story about parents and their children, and I’m one of the only people I know who loves it. This is because it speaks to a lot of modern anxieties, despite the book it’s based on being released in 1985. The movie features a lot of Baumbach-isms, particularly his quirky humor, and showcases excellent performances from Adam Driver and Don Cheadle. I love White Noise, and think it was unfairly maligned upon its release. (Robert Bouffard)
Nicole Holofcener makes a very specific kind of movie, and she almost never veers from that path. Her latest, You Hurt My Feelings, follows Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Beth, an author who overhears her husband say he doesn’t like her new book while not admitting the same to her. As the title might imply, this brisk, humanist movie is about the complexities of relationships, especially marriages which have lasted for decades. Shouldwe always be fully honest to our partners? If not, when is it okay to not be? The movie’s answer is nuanced, authentic, and sweet, as all of Holofcener’s films are, and as a whole, it’s incredibly watchable due to the wit and charm of its performers. (Robert Bouffard)
I am a twitter addict. If I spend too much time there, my day is ruined. Even before it was owned and run by known Nazi Elon Musk, the site was vile and disgusting. But the jokes and stories that are told there are unmatched. And the tale of Zola is the GOAT of Twitter products. Following strippers Zola (Taylour Paige) and Stefani (Riley Keough) on a whirlwind adventure in Florida, these two will get in all kinds of trouble. They encounter all kinds of insane folks in the sunshine state. Trying to describe the gauntlet they run through is not worth the page space. But trust me. Go in relaxed and ready to be a little shocked by everything and you’ll have a good time. And oh yeah, Colman Domingo is in it too. There’s three incredible actors for us to latch onto. Because the characters matter the most in Twitter stories. (Sam Nichols)