While it is now associated with major hits like Everything Everywhere All At Once, there are some seriously underrated A24 movies that deserve more attention. After Moonlight won its Best Picture Oscar in 2016, A24 started to be looked upon as a more prestigious production company. Known for telling niche and often daring stories, it is one of the fastest rising studios in Hollywood that stays true to original filmmaking.
Now valued at approximately $3.5 billion, A24 continues to excel, delivering a wealth of movies each year. While it has entered the big leagues, the studio still feels like the “indie darling” of the industry, renowned for its daring, auteur-driven, and often unconventional projects. Alongside its major successes lies a string of movies that slipped under the radar. So, here’s our pick of the five most underrated A24 movies.
5. The End of the Tour (2015)
While The End of the Tour garnered significant critical acclaim, it stands as one of the most underrated A24 movies, grossing a mere $3 million at the box office. This deeply profound character study charts the five-day-long interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) and legendary novelist David Foster Wallace. Although backed by sharp, contemplative writing, the film’s true brilliance lies in the transformative performance of Jason Segel as Wallace.
At the time of its release, Segel was primarily known for his work in sitcoms and slapstick/raunchy films. This meant that a large proportion of audiences walked in expecting a comedic affair. Instead, they were met with a performance of startling depth and vulnerability. Segel’s rendition of Wallace’s intellectual isolation and quiet charm showcased his dramatic capabilities, something he would then build upon in movies like Windfall, and TV series like Shrinking.
4. The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco explores the fear of being forgotten and the strong human desire to claim what is rightfully ours. With its powerful message delivered with smooth direction from Joe Talbot, it’s hard to fathom that this is a debut feature film. The story centers on Jimmy Fails (who plays a loose version of himself) as he attempts to reclaim the Victorian-style home where he grew up before his family lost it. Alongside his friend Montgomery Allen (Jonathan Majors), the two cross paths with fellow disenfranchised San Franciscans as they set out to find their way.
The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a simple tale made enthralling through its rich dive into the complex lives of a series of people trying to find direction. Although emotionally heavy at times, Talbot’s style of filmmaking makes the film breeze by at a refreshing pace. Fails shines as himself, drawing on his real-life experiences, accompanied by a stellar supporting performance from Danny Glover as Montgomery’s blind grandfather.
3. Zola (2020)
Based on a true story, Zola is a frenetically-paced comedy thriller by critically acclaimed writer and director Janicza Bravo has maintained an impressive 88% Tomatometer score following its release in 2020. The plot follows a confident Detroit waitress named Zola (Taylour Paige) as she is convinced to take a wild trip to Florida by a fierce and enigmatic customer named Stefani (Riley Keough). However wild the movie gets, we always believe the characters thanks to intense character studies.
As a dark comedy for the digital age, the film’s heavy themes are lifted with moments of light humor that play on the absurdity of the situations. Even as tensions elevate, the dynamic between Paige and Keough is so captivating and fast-paced that we have limited time to get bogged down in the more depressing elements. Zola is, in short, a film that could only exist in this era – a chaotic, fever dream that somehow emerges as one of A24’s most singular and unforgettable cinematic achievements that deserves more eyes on it.
2. Green Room (2015)
Green Room is a shining example of how to execute slow-burn tension. Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), this contained thriller tightens its grip with every passing minute until the walls feel like they are genuinely closing in. From the opening frame, we are introduced to a punk rock band out of their depths. Travelling around and having fun, we sense something is off. Before long, the grounded story shifts to terror when the young rockers stumble upon something they were never meant to see – a brutal murder. From here, it rapidly descends into a claustrophobic, nerve-shredding fight for survival, catapulting us straight from thriller territory to pure horror.
The casting of Patrick Stewart as Darcy, the chillingly composed neo-Nazi ringleader, is beyond inspired – his measured, almost paternal menace proving far more unsettling than any conventional screen villain. Despite landing an impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and earning widespread critical adoration, Jeremy Saulnier remains something of a well-kept secret, yet to receive the mainstream recognition afforded to contemporaries like Ari Aster or Robert Eggers. That, perhaps, is the greatest injustice in modern genre filmmaking.
1. First Reformed (2017)
First Reformed tells the complex story of Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke), a solitary pastor of a small historic church in upstate New York, whose crisis of faith is catastrophically deepened when he takes a troubled young environmentalist under his wing. Hawke delivers one of the finest performance of his career – understated but powerful and deeply moving. Although there are key characters central to the story, the main offering is a quietly devastating portrait of a man unravelling from the inside out, played exceptionally by Hawke.
Schrader refuses to sanitize the film’s darkest impulses, leaning fully into themes of grief, ecological despair, and spiritual collapse with an unflinching, almost punishing commitment that rewards patient viewers. It is a bold and deeply cerebral piece of filmmaking, and a remarkable career milestone for Schrader, who finally received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay – decades after penning genre-defining works like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Critically celebrated yet frustratingly underseen, First Reformed is truly one of A24’s most underrated movies.
Read Next: Top 25 A24 Movies Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes Score
Follow Us
