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A24 is one of the most exciting indie movie studios around, and since 2013 they’ve been making a name for themselves by hooking up with incredibly talented artists to make some of the most interesting movies of the last five years. Recently, Netflix has begun adding dozens of A24 movies to their streaming library, in what’s undeniably been a coup for the platform.
In combing through the various A24 offerings on Netflix, there are quite a few different ways you could go. One of the great things about A24 as a studio is that they haven’t really boxed themselves into one type of movie. So you could roll up with the filthy, exhilarating charms of Spring Breakers or the Kevin Smith body-horror of Tusk or Tom Hardy delivering a one-man show as a faithless husband in a car by himself in Locke.
But if you’re looking for the cream of the crop of what’s available on Netflix, let these 9 movies be your first stops.
'Amy'
This Oscar-winning documentary from director Asif Kapadia pulls together some remarkably candid archive footage of Amy Winehouse, documenting her rise to pop stardom and copious demons that plagued her until her death in 2011. Winehouse’s story is one of an improbably bright light in terms of talent and personality; perhaps even more heartbreaking than when the film turns to the sad and tragic circumstances of her death are the scenes when we get to see her young and full of promise.
'Ex Machina'
Famed screenwriter and author Alex Garland (28 Days Later; The Beach) got his first crack at directing with this sci-fi story about a brilliant but possibly mad (or at least a bit sinister) scientist, played by Oscar Isaac, who invites a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) to his secluded country home/laboratory to test out his latest breakthrough: an artificial intelligence that Isaac’s character believes to be so realistic as to pass for human. As the A.I., Alicia Vikander broke through in a major way, earning a Golden Globe nomination and likely contributing to her Oscar win that year for Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl. But Danish girls or not, Ex Machina is the movie that people are going to remember. It’s a film brimming with ideas, tension, and style.
'Ginger & Rosa'
Elle Fanning’s rather impeccable British accent gets put to good use here as she plays a teenage girl amid the counterculture atmosphere of ’60s Britain, whose life goes into chaos when her best friend (Alice Englert, who you should know from Beautiful Creatures) starts dating her newly divorced father (Alessandro Nivola, giving a brilliantly scummy and self-centered performance). The performances are great — Christina Hendricks plays Ginger’s mom while Annette Bening plays a counterculture figure who comes to mentor Ginger a bit — and the direction, by Sally Potter, is chilly and poignant.
'Laggies'
Writer/director Lynn Shelton is one of the most underrated directors working today, having delivered films like Humpday and the brilliant Your Sister’s Sister. With Laggies, Shelton presents a portrait of twentysomething aimlessness that is also remarkably likeable. A lot of the credit for that goes to Keira Knightley, who plays Megan, who breaks up with her boyfriend (as he’s proposing!) and retreats into a kind of regressive adolescence, befriending Chloe Grace Moretz and her high school friends. The observations in the movie are wise and relatable, and Knightley is excellent as a girl at odds with her own life.
'A Most Violent Year'
Writer/director J.C. Chandor made this film where Oscar Isaac plays the owner of a small heating-oil company whose attempts to compete in the aggressive, competitive, and often violent world of New York City business lead him, a good man, farther and farther down a dark path. Isaac is excellent, but the real show here is Jessica Chastain as his mobbed-up wife, who’s constantly encouraging him to be more and more ruthless.
'Obvious Child'
Jenny Slate and Jake Lacey embark upon one of the sweetest, most genuinely supportable film romances that ever arose from an indie comedy about an abortion. It’s about more than that, of course; Slate’s stand-up scenes are gold, Gaby Hoffmann and Gabe Liedman are perfection as her friends, and Lacy did such a great job as a romantic foil that he immediately got cast in a billion more projects as soon as people started seeing it.
'Room'
Based on an acclaimed novel, Room was one of A24’s most successful movies ever, becoming the studio’s first Best Picture nominee at the Oscars and bringing home a Best Actress trophy for Brie Larson. In the film, Larson plays a woman abducted and kept isolated for over five years, where she’s had a son and raised him in this locked basement, the only world he’s ever known. Their harrowing escape and harsh adjustment to the world is at turns suspenseful and affecting, anchored by Larson and young Jacob Tremblay’s performances.
'Slow West'
While the title might suggest one of those interminable Westerns where notions of good and evil are mulled over at length before some portentous confrontation. Slow West isn’t going for that. Instead, it follows young Jay (Kodi Smit-McPhee) whose trip to the West to find his lady love ends with him getting mixed up with a bounty hunter played by Michael Fassbender and a villainous Ben Mendelsohn. The characters are enjoyable and the action is fast-paced and clever, but it’s cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s breathtakingly colorful cinematography that is the true star of the show.
'Under the Skin'
Scarlet Johansson plays an alien being in human form, slowly canvassing a chilly Scottish town seeking out men who desire her and then luring them into … something. It’s never fully explained, what liquid fate awaits these poor men, but the less we understand the specifics of Under the Skin, the more we fall under its spell. This movie is almost pure mood, with some of the most surprising visuals you’re ever going to find in a movie.
