3 hours ago
1
A24 has emerged as one of the most original production companies in recent years. And while the films it produces span every genre -- horror, documentary, comedy and beyond -- the entertainment house has become synonymous with a certain aesthetic.
The company has attracted singular filmmakers like Sofia Coppola, Ari Aster, Yorgos Lanthimos and Barry Jenkins, who have helped define the company's creative ethos to the point that it's often easy to recognize a film as being an A24 production. And its films are not just underground hits, either. Many of them, like Minari, The Zone of Interest and Everything Everywhere All at Once, have also won Oscars.
While HBO Max is the premier destination to stream the most A24 films, you can find some of its best movies across several free streaming services such as Kanopy, Tubi, Pluto TV and Plex. This April, catch acclaimed films like Dream Scenario starring Nicolas Cage, the darkly comedic Problemista and Scarlet Johansson in the creepy sci-fi Under The Skin -- and loads more, which have all recently arrived on these services.
Here are some of our favorite A24 hits that you can watch now without spending a dime.
2013's Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien living among humans on Earth who picks up men, only to bring them back to her place where she stores them in a mysterious vat of dark goo. The film was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who would go on to direct the Oscar-winning A24 film, The Zone of Interest. The movie can be polarizing. Chances are, you'll love it or hate it, but there's no denying that Johansson gives an incredible performance that's miles away from anything else she's done.
You can always count on Nicolas Cage to offer up a completely original, singular performance, and he really delivers in the 2023 film Dream Scenario. He plays a mild-mannered man named Paul who is shocked to learn that he keeps appearing in random people's dreams. Paul becomes a media sensation after learning that he's in the dreams of strangers and friends alike, but things turn chaotic when the dreams turn into violent nightmares for many. The film co-stars Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows and Noah Centineo.
Noomi Rapace stars in Lamb, a film about a couple in Iceland who adopt a human-sheep hybrid and raise it as their own child to fill the void left by the death of their daughter. This horror-tinged folktale is available now on Kanopy.
Lest you think A24 only produced grim horror and psychological thrillers, Dicks: The Musical is a good reminder that they're a great source for offbeat comedy, too. The 2023 movie musical is directed by former Seinfeld writer and director Larry Charles and stars Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally as estranged exes whose sons were raised apart, but meet later as adults and realize they're identical twins. The twins try to reunite their divorced parents, Parent Trap-style, and while that doesn't quite work, they have a wild adventure (in a sewer) where they realize that their own relationship is deeper than they thought. The cast also includes Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang, Nick Offerman and Josh Sharp.
In Problemista, Julio Torres stars as an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador who now lives in New York. When he can't find a job in his chosen field, he secures work as an assistant to an erratic and eccentric art critic, played by Tilda Swinton. Torres also wrote and directed the film which co-stars Greta Lee, RZA and Isabella Rosselini. The film is currently available on Pluto TV, Kanopy and Plex.
High Life is the 2018 English-language debut of French director Claire Denis. The movie stars Robert Pattinson as a father who, along with his baby daughter, is on a deep space mission traveling toward a black hole. Pattinson's Monte is one of a group of criminals sent to space (also among them, Mia Goth and Outkast's André Benjamin), who are forced into service while also treated as guinea pigs by a nefarious doctor (Juliette Binoche). After most of the crew disappears, Monte and his daughter are forced to survive alone on the ship for years as they hurtle farther from earth.
Written and directed by Jonah Hill, mid90s is a story about the life of a 13-year-old kid named Stevie growing up in Los Angeles in, you guessed it, the mid-1990s, and he becomes a part of the local skate culture there. A coming-of-age story that was loosely inspired by Hill's own experiences as a teen, the film stars a young cast that includes Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges and Na-Kel Smith, along with Katherine Waterston.
