A24 has become one of the most interesting production companies in recent years, and although the films it produces span every genre – from horror to documentary to 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 philosophy to the point where it’s often easy to recognize a film as an A24 production. And his films aren’t just underground hits. Many of them, like Room, Moonlight and Everything Everywhere All at Once, also won Academy Awards.
Although HBO Max is the top destination to stream the most A24 movies, you can find some of its best movies on several free streaming services as Canopy, Pipes And Plex. The Oscar-winning documentary Amy (about the life and death of singer Amy Winehouse), the critically acclaimed film Aftersun starring Paul Mescal, and the hugely entertaining dark comedy Zola, from director Janicza Bravo, are a few you can watch for free.
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Here are some of our favorite A24 hits that you can now watch without spending a penny.
2013’s Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien living among humans on Earth who picks up men, only to bring them home where she stores them in a mysterious vat of dark matter. The film was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who would go on to direct the Academy Award-winning A24 film, The Zone of Interest. The film can be polarizing – chances are you’ll either 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.
The 2022 drama Aftersun stars Paul Mescal as Calum, the young father of an 11-year-old girl named Sophie (Frankie Corio). The two vacation together at a Turkish resort, and the film is a moving and charming character study of their relationship and a reflection on their fleeting, shared moments together. We later see an adult Sophie watching the camcorder footage she shot, reconnecting with memories of her past. The critically acclaimed film is available this month on multiple platforms, including Tubi, Plex and Kanopy.
There’s really nothing Julia Louis-Dreyfus can’t do. In You Hurt My Feelings, the actor, who in my opinion is one of the best comedians of our time, puts on a more dramatic hat in this story of the marriage of a writer whose husband doesn’t like her latest book.
Louis-Dreyfus plays Beth, a memoirist who begins writing her first novel. As she begins to doubt her own talents, she overhears her husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), disparaging the book. Unable to confront Don, Beth’s ego is bruised and her confidence in their relationship is shaken. The film provides plenty of laughs while also insightfully recognizing how minor grievances can escalate into the breakdown of an entire relationship.
Written, directed and produced by Sofia Coppola, Priscilla is a biopic about Priscilla Presley and her relationship with her husband, Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). The film follows Priscilla from their first meeting in 1960, when she was just 14, through their courtship and eventual marriage. The film stands in stark contrast to Baz Luhrmann’s flashy Elvis biopic, trading that fast-paced, frenetic pace for a gentler, more realistic look at the dynamic between teenage Priscilla and adult Elvis.
Yes, it’s a film based on a series of tweets, but in the hands of director Janicza Bravo, Zola is much more than that. In 2015, a woman named A’Ziah “Zola” King went viral for a story she wrote over the course of 148 tweets about a road trip she took to Florida with a new friend who wasn’t what she seemed. Taylour Paige plays the main character in the film and Riley Keough plays Stefani, a stripper who invites Zola to go to Tampa to earn money dancing. But what follows is a wild tale of sex and violence that eventually escalates into murder.
Tom Hardy is the only actor to appear on screen in the gripping psychological drama Locke, which essentially features a single man driving alone on the highway for 85 minutes. Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a man who decides to travel to London to be with the woman he impregnated (who is not his wife) while she gives birth. During the car ride, Locke receives a series of phone calls, each more stressful than the last, and his life slowly unfolds on speakerphone. (The film was universally acclaimed, and almost every critic admits that it is far more gripping than you might imagine.) Keep your ears open for Olivia Colman, Tom Holland, Ruth Wilson, and many other actors who appear as disembodied voices.
Amy Winehouse died in 2011 from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27. If you only knew Winehouse from her near-constant presence in the tabloids, the 2015 documentary Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia, will make you realize just how talented she was. Amy is a devastating look at a preternaturally talented young woman who struggled under the weight of fame. The film features interviews with his closest friends, as well as colleagues like Mark Ronson, Mos Def and Tony Bennett, as well as never-before-seen footage before and during his rise to fame.
