A little confusion arose over my A24 write-up. No, I wasn’t bashing the indie studio, I actually love many of the films and filmmakers they’ve cultivated over these last ten or so years. Without A24, American moviemaking would be much worse off.
My main gripe, as was Vulture’s, had to do with the cultish fever of its fanbase who might sometimes lose track of the actual film in favour of branding and marketing. many of their films get hyped up solely in terms of brand, and then the art gets lost. That’s all I’m saying.
I don’t really think films like “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Minari,” “Cmon Cmon” and, especially, Everything Everywhere All At Once“ would be as lauded if they didn’t have the full A24 machine backing them up.
With that being said, I’ve come up with 25 A24 movies that have solidified the legacy of the indie arthouse boutiques. These are the cream of the crop (in no particular order):
The Florida Project, First Cow, Krisha, Uncut Gems, A Most Violent Year, Under the Skin, Eighth Grade, Hereditary, Lady Bird, Spring Breakers, A Ghost Story, Green Room, Menashe, Amy, First Reformed, Ex Machina, Good Time, The Disaster Artist, Gloria Bell, Red Rocket, Lean on Pete, 20th Century Women, Mid-90s, American Honey, Climax
All this in a span of less than 10 years. It’s remarkable.
At the moment, there is no other indie studio that can compete. You have the likes of Neon, Blumhouse, Annapurna, Focus, IFC Films, Magnolia, Strand, Oscilloscope and Bleeker duking it out to be the next A24, but none have really found the magic recipe. Neon has come the closest.
For Schrader, AI solves the curious practical filmmaking problem he had. How about just creating Black people? No casting calls, no agents, no actors turning down the roles.