A24 is a champion of original independent filmmaking and auteur direction, which is one of the key reasons these films are unlike anything else you'll ever see from mainstream Hollywood big-budget productions. The storytelling often comes with deep, philosophical, and sometimes confusing hidden messages, yet the writing and framing of the films are all always brilliantly creative and lasting.

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Over the years, lots of notable directors have made plenty of films under the banner of A24, and some of these movies have gone on to win many well-deserved Oscars and other accolades. Understandingly, A24 may not be every moviegoer's cup of tea, but here are some that truly stand out from the vast array of projects.

10 The Killing Of A Sacred 𝐆Deer ไ

Colin Farrell's character Steven removing the EKG readers and patches from Martin's body after an examination in a hospital room

Director

Yorgos Lanthimos

Cinematographer

Thimios Bakatakis

Main Cast

Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Sunny Suljic, Raffey Cassi�𒀰�dy, Alicia Silverstone, and Bill Camp

Year Released

2017

When Barry Keoghan shows up in a film and inserts himself into a family, it's usually not a good sign. His roles as Martin in The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Oliver in Saltburn can really be one and the same. However, with Yorgos Lanthimos' direction, purposefully odd dialogue, and an eerie score, the unsettling atmosphere is taken to another level.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a slow-burn psychological thriller about a heart surgeon's fatal mistake resulting in his family paying the ultimate price with mysterious illnesses and tragedy, seemingly at the hands of a vengeful teen. There are undertones of Greek Tragedy, particularly the story of Iphigenia, and to say this movie is deeply disturbing, twisted, and unforgettable is an understatement, though it is Lanthimos after all.

9 Men

Jessie Buckley with her back to the camera staring at Rory Kinnear's menacing appearance on her cottage yard, with some fallen apples from the tree.

Director

Alex Garland

Cinematographer

Rob Hardy

Main Cast

Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiꦑedu, and Gayle Rankin

Year Released

2022

Alex Garland's Men is one to be talked about. The ending scene, which we won't spoil here, is unlike anything anyone can ever come up with and a scene in cinema history you won't ever unsee. The film's twist not only elevates the horror elements vaguely tied to the pagan mythology of the Green Man but reigns in the unapologetic message Garland has on the male gender.

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Men is one of those movies that shocks and surprises in ways you could never imagine, as it starts innocently enough with Harper's vacation in a lush, remote village following the loss of her husband. Then, you find out there are more layers to Harper's story, and several of Rory Kinnear's doubles soon get up to no good and torment her throughout her stay.

8 🦹 The Lighthouse 💟

Robert Pattinson's character sitting and turning to look at Willem Dafoe, who's naked and eyes are beaming light directly into Robert's.

Director

Robert Eggers

Cinematographer

Jarin Blaschke

Main Cast

Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe,🍸 and Valeriia Karaman

Year Released

2019

Aesthetically, The Lighthouse is one of the most visually luxuriant A24 films and is stylistically filmed in black-and-white with a 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Coming off of The Witch, Robert Eggers achieved mastery with𒉰 his visuals, writing, uncomfortable story beats, and direction for the two-person ensemble of Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.

Almost every frame feels like you're in a piece of art, including in the still above, which Eggers confirmed was inspired by Sascha Schneider's Hypnose. Many might not even begin to understand what this film is about and the significance of Greek mythology and seagulls playing into 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:aꦬ story aboꦇut an isolated New England lighthouse in the late 19th centuryꦇ, but those performances from Pattꦿinson and Dafoe are everything.

7 Midsommar

The bone-chilling scene where Florence Pugh's Dani collectively cries in a group in unison with other girls from the village.

Director

Ari Aster

Cinematographer

Pawel Pogorzelski

Main Cast

Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, Archie Madekwe, William Jackson Hꦉarp🧸er, and Vilhelm Blomgren

Year Released

2019

Ari Aster's filmography likes to explore horror through grief, as Hereditary and Midsommar have shown. Midsommar, however, takes a leap where the creepiness and dread of horror don't really belong, and that's daylight. The film is about the customs of the summer solstice celebration that take very sinister turns, set in a Swedish pagan village where the sun never sets.

At its very dark heart, the movie is about newfound family and identity, particularly for Florence Pugh's character, Dani, who tragically lost her sister and parents in a gruesome murder-suicide. The message is felt by the end, just in very thought-provoking and disturbing ways and with visuals that only Ari Aster can contrive.

6 ꦗ ✃ Ex Machina

Caleb sitting on a chair on the other side of a glass screen chatting with Ava, on her knees inside her room.

Director

Alex Garland

Cinematographer

Rob Hardy

Main Cast

Alicia Vikand🦩er, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaꦰac, and Sonoya Mizuno

Year Released

2014

Ex Machina was the first of many projects between writer/director Alex Garland and A24, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a sci-fi thriller driving ꧟home the dan🐭gers of AI. Quite eerily parallel to the talking AI robots like Am💞eca we have now, the movie centers around Ava, a robot artificial intel🥃ligence, played by Alicia Vikander, who only grows more and more unsettling over the course of the film and starts going rogue on her creator.

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Oscar Isaac stars as the developer of the AI, Nathan, who recruits Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb as a test to study Ava's human behaviors and observe just how convincing she can be. Once more, Garland's creativity with the script doesn't disappoint, featuring tons of memorable scenes and a compelling, eerie ending that begs for a sequel.

5 Everythin💃g Eve🥂rywhere All At Once

Evelyn looking at her hands with an angry Alpha Dierdre behind her and Waymond in the reflection of the glass.

Director

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (The Daniels)

Cinematographer

Larkin Seiple

Main Cast

Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jaꦅmes Hong, and Stephanie Hsu

Year Released

2022

It's hard to describe a film such as Everything Everywhere All At Once, but a quick synopsis of it would be family anxiety and shattered relationships 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:put to the ultimate multiversal test when tax season comes knocking. It's the Daniels, who've previously made Swiss Army Man, so you know things are bound to get unconventionally bizarre and weird everywhere and all at once.

The cast is filled with Hollywood legends who all give heartfelt performances about the themes of love and kindness. That's all complimented by the brilliantly choreographed and edited fight scenes that are often jarring, mind-bending, and extremely unforgettable. What other Oscar-winning martial arts film sees two dudes trying to shove objects up their butts and later getting sucked into donut black holes?

4 🐼 Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler's Howard Ratner with his hands clasped together staring toward the camera inside his jewelry store, with a devious look.

Director

Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie (Safdie Brothers)

Cinematographer

Darius Khondji

Main Cast

Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, The W⭕eeknd, and Pom Klementieff

Year Released

2019

Talk about an anxiety-inducing film. Your blood pressure will be through the roof after watching this immersive cacophonous spiral of jeweler Howard Ratner and his gambling addiction, manipulative schemes, and personal problems that close in on him. What the Safdie Brothers achieved in conveying this through the intensity of sound design and chaotic dialogue can't be reproduced.

Adam Sandler is, of course, Howard Ratner, and seeing him in this more dramatic role will totally shock and amaze you, as he's certainly no Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore. Howard is a case study for sports betting, just as with the addict characters in Requiem for a Dream, only he's messing with money and some very intimidating people.

3 Moonlight

Mahershala Ali's character Juan holding a young Chiron in his arms in the ocean.

Director

Barry Jenkins

Cinematographer

James Laxton

Main Cast

Alex R. Hibbert, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáe, Naomie Harris,ཧ Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Trevante Rhodes, and 🅰André Holland

Year Released

2016

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mo🅰onlight is a full-circle coming-of-age story about a young Black boy named Chiron and how his upbringing and experiences through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood shaped the person he became. The film examines his relationship with his drug addict mother who neglected him, a drug dealer mentor, bullies who constantly assault him physically and emotionally,💖 and his sexuality.

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Chiron is a shy and reserved kid dealing with the pressure of the environment in which he's growing up in and struggling to come to terms with his identity as a gay man, which is something he's never been able to express freely. Broken up into three parts to cover each stage of Chiron's life, it's hard not to see how this powerful film won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

2 Room

Brie Larson holding her on-screen son Jack as he stares up at the ceiling with an expression of wonder.

Director

Lenny Abrahamson

Cinematographer

Danny Cohen

Main Cast

Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay,⛄ Sean Bridgers, Joan Allen, Tom McCamus, Cas Anvar, Amanda Brugel, and William H. Macy

Year Released

2015

A far more harrowing coming-of-age film developed by A24 is 2015's Room, a tragically realistic portrayal of a kidnap and rape victim living as a hostage in her captor's shed for seven years and raising her young boy for five of them. This performance won Brie Larson her first Oscar, and it's truly one of her best performances to date.

Jacob Tremblay's performance at just the young age of ten in such a role is noteworthy as well, a small child who only knows one room for the first five years of his life and believes the outside world is make-believe. The film covers the suspenseful escape and return of Joy and Jack Newsome to their family and the struggle and trauma of readjusting back to a normal life.

1 The Whale

Brendan Fraser shirtless in the Oscar-winning prosthetics for The Whale trying to make it to his bed with a walker.

Director

Darren Aronofsky

Cinematographer

Matthew Libatique

Main Cast

Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins𒉰, and Samantha Morton

Year Released

2022

As if Mother!, Requiem for a Dream, and Black Swan haven't shown already, Darren Aronofsky is one of the greatest directors of all time. His 2022 film, The Whale, is even further proof. The Whale is adapted from a stage play of the same name and shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio. It also achieves a seamless flow from stage play to cinema, as characters enter and exit scenes like they're in a theater production, yet everything still feels cinematic.

The Whale centers around Charlie, a grieving, morbidly obese English online learning professor who refuses to get help for his condition on account of not having money for treatments and how it's affected his life and those around him. Soon, he begins to reconnect with his daughter and hopes to repair their relationship. Winner of two Oscars (including Best Actor), you'll need some tissues for the heartbreaking moments between Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink.

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