Top 5 A24 Films
By Austin Johnson
Whenever I see that black background with the white A24 logo at the beginning of a film, the hairs on my neck literally stand up. Three dudes named David Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges decided to start A24 so they could help fund and produce cool films. It really is that simple. Katz told the Wall Street Journal that the first question they ask about each film is, “Is this cool?” They have no problem helping out young writers/directors and taking risks. A24 distributed films have garnered 25 nominations from the Academy and plenty of other recognition throughout it’s six year tenure.
A24 is a film distribution company based in New York City that was founded in 2012. A distribution company's main purpose is to fund films and help market them when they are about to be released. The company officially came into film fans lives in 2013 when a string of films that they distributed came out. Films like Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. Every year since then, A24 has churned out more and more films. They have now distributed over 80 films all together, with some financial success through films like Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Ari Aster’s Hereditary, which both made around 80 million dollars at the box office. The company is young, ambitious, and here to stay. I have personally seen over half of the films, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to justify doing this list. With my other lists, I’ve seen all the content there is to offer. This is the only one where I’ve seen just a percentage of the content. That may bug some people, but fuck it, the pool of films is huge. This is also much different because I won’t be talking about A24 itself when listing each film, but just the films themselves. So, thank you A24, now let’s get to the films!
A24 is a film distribution company based in New York City that was founded in 2012. A distribution company's main purpose is to fund films and help market them when they are about to be released. The company officially came into film fans lives in 2013 when a string of films that they distributed came out. Films like Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. Every year since then, A24 has churned out more and more films. They have now distributed over 80 films all together, with some financial success through films like Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and Ari Aster’s Hereditary, which both made around 80 million dollars at the box office. The company is young, ambitious, and here to stay. I have personally seen over half of the films, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to justify doing this list. With my other lists, I’ve seen all the content there is to offer. This is the only one where I’ve seen just a percentage of the content. That may bug some people, but fuck it, the pool of films is huge. This is also much different because I won’t be talking about A24 itself when listing each film, but just the films themselves. So, thank you A24, now let’s get to the films!
5.) The Lobster (2015)
"Now the fact that you will turn into an animal if you fail to fall in love with someone during your stay here is not something that should upset you or get you down. Just think, as an animal you'll have a second chance to find a companion. But, even then, you must be careful; you need to choose a companion that is a similar type of animal to you. A wolf and a penguin could never live together, nor could a camel and a hippopotamus. That would be absurd.”
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When I saw The Lobster in theaters, it was my introduction to Yorgos Lanthimos, who has continually got my attention the past few years with this, Dogtooth, Alps, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Favourite. He seems to have a very dark and comedic formula that hits every time. We are unsettled but glued to the screen, because these ideas and characters that Yorgos brings to cinema are completely original, fresh, and award worthy. The Lobster got him a nomination for Best Original Screenplay and The Favourite was up for Best Picture and Best Director. In The Lobster, we have an abundance of talent on deck, including Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Reilly. Rachel narrates and acts as the Short Sighted Woman with such poise. I really feel like she is one of the more underrated performers and this role showcases her versatility really well. Colin bloody Farrell just keeps on impressing as he gets older. He’s our protagonist and a man who is left by his wife for another man. He then goes to a very special kind of hotel for single folks that requires you to hunt for people and endure propaganda about the advantages of being in a relationship. Some of the dialogue will have you laughing until your stomach hurts and some of it will force your brain to move in directions you didn’t know it could go. Yorgos has a way of bringing out the weird in actors and as time goes on, I guarantee that you’ll be seeing a Top 5 written by me honoring this man’s work.
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4.) Mid90s (2018)
“A lot of the time we feel that our lives the worst, but I think that
if you looked in anybody else's closet, you wouldn't trade your shit for their shit. So let's go.” |
Coming in at number 4 is Jonah Hill’s directorial debut centered around skateboarding. Every one of my close male friends is just as in love with Mid90s as I am. When it came out, we had a solid group of us go out to The Bijou to see it. We quote it all the time and have a deep respect for the soundtrack that includes some incredible music from the 90’s rap and punk era. I’m proud to say that I’m 100% a part of the cult that adores this film. Jonah turned skaters into actors for Mid90s and as a big fan of the sport, that’s something I appreciate so much. He recruited Supreme skate team member and Odd Future collaborator, Na’Kel Smith to play Ray. He was also able to get the long haired skater and fashion connoisseur, Olan Prenatt to get on board as Fuckshit. The only one who wasn’t totally skater turned actor was Sunny Suljic, who appeared in the frightening A24 distributed The Killing of a Sacred Deer a year prior. It must be pretty wild to go from working with Yorgos Lanthimos to working with comedic legend, Jonah Hill. The film focuses on Stevie’s (Suljic) perspective as he battles with his mother (Katherine Waterston) and his older brother (Lucas Hedges). The skaters mentioned earlier play some older kids who take Stevie under their wing through skateboarding. Mid90s touches on things like family, friendship, masculinity, and finding out what you love through some young skaters in LA during the mid nineties. There are plenty of comparisons to the 1995 film Kids. Hell, Harmony Korine is in Mid90s at one point. It’s got the same raw approach, but the content isn’t nearly as depressing. In my opinion, Mid90s is an ode to so many different parts of American culture, as it constantly references a part of that 90’s era in every scene.
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3.) First Reformed (2018)
“The bad times they will begin, and from that point everything moves very quickly. You know, this social structure can't bear the stress of multiple crises. Opportunistic diseases, anarchy, martial law, the tipping point. And this isn't in some like distant future. You will live to see this.”
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Over the course of film history, we have seen cycles in Hollywood. Of course, it always has to do with what’s in style or popular at the time. During the 70’s, this new wave of directors started turning people’s heads. They were called The Movie Brats. You know, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma… but, the guy that I’d say most average film goers forget about is Paul Schrader. He was more of a writer than director in his prime, most notably known for writing Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Schrader has now worked on films through five decades and I’d say that his most recent project, First Reformed, is his masterpiece as he wrote and directed this soul-questioning film. At the 91st Academy Awards, Schrader received his one and only nomination for Best Original Screenplay. He was up against some titans like Alfonso Cuarón for Roma and Adam McKay for Vice. Somehow, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book beat all of them… Anyways, Ethan Hawke plays our main character, Reverend Toller who is the minister at the First Reformed Church in New York. He finds himself counseling a man who questions everything. This man has knowledge that most of us are too lazy to look up or care about. Big picture kind of stuff. This film asks so many questions that deal with our morality and duty as humans. As the film slowly burns, Toller has to confront his own demons and desires. How on Earth Hawke wasn’t up for best actor at the Oscars and Golden Globes is beyond me. He outdoes himself completely, shattering through any ceiling we thought he had. It’s one of the most thought provoking plots in recent memory, with a finale that will be remembered forever.
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2.) Hereditary (2018)
“DON’T you swear at me, you little shit! Don't you EVER raise your voice at me! I am your mother! You understand? All I do is worry and slave and defend you, and all I get back is that fucking face on your face! So full of disdain and resentment and always so annoyed! Well, now your sister is dead! And I know you miss her and I know it was an accident and I know you're in pain and I wish could take that away for you. I WISH I could shield you from the knowledge that you did what you did, but you're sister is dead! She's gone forever! And what a waste... if it could've maybe brought us together, or something, if you could've just said "I'm sorry"
or faced up to what happened, maybe then we could do something with this, but you can't take responsibility for anything! So, now I can't accept. And I can't forgive. Because... because NOBODY admits anything they've done!” |
I highly suggest you go listen to Episode 18 of Filmgazm, where Connor and I break down Ari Aster’s Hereditary. We both adore the shit out of this horror masterpiece, and it was an absolute blast to discuss what we respect about it the most. Hereditary is one of the big A24 successes that came out at the beginning of the summer in 2018. It gained some momentum, because when horror fans actually get something worthwhile, we can’t stop talking about it. This film is undoubtedly one of the horror gems of this decade, and it’s a damn shame we didn’t see it represented during award season. Toni Collete offers up her best work in my opinion and should’ve been in the conversation for the best performance of last year. She fucking owns the role of Annie, cementing herself in the pantheon of characters in horror. Annie is the mother of the Graham family, which consists of her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne), her son Peter (Alex Wolff), and her daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). When this film is brought up, people often describe it as a family drama, because the plot is so attached to the family. We are with the Grahams for some of the most evil happenings in cinematic history. There are some textbook horror scenes, but also some strikingly new content. Shit, the finale is literally straight out of hell. Aster followed Hereditary up with the most insane break-up film I’ve ever seen called Midsommar. Episode 21 of Filmgazm will be focused solely on Midsommar, so join us to hear more about Ari Aster and his sophomore film.
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1.) Moonlight (2016)
“Ok. Let your head rest in my hand. Relax. I got you. I promise. I won't let you go. Hey man. I got you. There you go. Ten Seconds. Right there.
You in the middle of the world.” |
And number one is La La Land! Wait, no, there’s been a mistake. Moonlight is number one. That’s right, the 89th Academy Award winner for Best Picture finds itself at the top of my list. Moonlight also got Barry Jenkins the Best Adapted Screenplay win, Mahershala Ali the Best Supporting Actor win, and another five nominations from the Oscars to go with it. The Academy got it right! And this was just a couple years ago. Moonlight is a triptych at its absolute finest, presenting a three part epic about a person finding his own identity. This is a film right up my alley, consisting of an abundance of dialogue, a killer score from Nicholas Britell, and fantastically original cinematography. With the triptych formula, we have multiple actors playing our main character, Chiron. We get breathtaking stuff from Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes as Chiron who is a dude from the projects in Miami. Jenkins and co-writer Tarell McCraney found a way to write a modern day classic, expressing the difficulties of growing up in America. It’s a very broad topic, but Jenkins forces us to pay attention to a kind of character that doesn’t get near enough representation in the limelight. I find this film to be moving in ways that I cannot describe in writing. Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Janelle Monae, Andre Holland, and Jharrel Jerome create a wonderful supporting cast that sits with you after watching this film. It’s the intense self reflecting and shots of faces that make Moonlight so damn good. We don’t get enough of this kind of content, but A24 definitely knows how to find films that pull our heart strings.
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