Every A24 movie on Netflix, ranked (2024)

8. White Noise (2022)

Many considered Don DeLillo's novel White Noise to be "unfilmable," and judging from Noah Baumbach's 2022 attempt, they may be right. After years of film rights floating in production limbo, A24 and Baumbach finally adapted the postmodern classic, which follows a college professor (Adam Driver) and his fourth wife (Greta Gerwig), who are both inordinately afraid of death. But, when a chemical spill from a train car causes an Airborne Toxic Event, they're both forced to confront their mortality.

The film has a lot going for it, especially the lead performances from Driver and Gerwig, along with zany supporting turns by Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith, and André Benjamin. But, tonally, the movie never quite finds its footing. The script is faithful to a fault; the dialogue that works so well on the page feels arch and mannered coming out of real people's mouths. (It's no coincidence that the most inspired part of the movie, the ending dance sequence, isn't in the novel.) As EW's critic writes, White Noise "feels like a film made with deep respect and affection for its source material. But it also seems, in nearly every scene, like he's dancing about architecture, trying to wrest something from the strange magic of those pages that refuses to be translated to the screen." —Janey Tracey

Where to watch White Noise: Netflix

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Director:Noah Baumbach

Cast:Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André Benjamin

Related content:Greta Gerwig didn't think White Noise would get made: 'It felt like fantasy baseball'

7. When You Finish Saving the World (2022)

Jesse Eisenberg's feature directorial debut is a family drama–cum–social satire sending up intergenerational narcissism. Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard play a mother and son with a contentious relationship. She's a social worker who spends her days helping women and children who have been abused but can't spare an ounce of kindness for her kin, while he's a social media musician who writes songs with names like "Truthaches." Instead of affection for each other, they both find emotional surrogates. Hers comes via assisting a sensitive teenage boy living in her shelter; meanwhile, her son falls in love with a stridently progressive classmate (13 Reasons Why's Alisha Boe).

While the script has funny moments, its satire is overly broad and too often plucks low-hanging fruit. Moore's character is cartoonishly cold and can barely hug people, being a caricature of liberal hypocrisy. Meanwhile, Wolfhard's is a typical Gen Z stereotype (hasn't the vapidity of influencers been skewered enough times?). However, Eisenberg's direction shows flashes of greatness; he's an expert at constructing cringe comedy that makes the viewer wince at awkwardness. That skill has us looking forward to his next film, A Real Pain, which received positive reviews at Sundance. —J.T.

Where to watch When You Finish Saving the World: Netflix

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director:Jesse Eisenberg

Cast:Julianne Moore, Finn Wolfhard, Jay O. Sanders, Alisha Boe, Billy Bryk, Eleonore Hendricks

Related content:Julianne Moore says film industry figure once told her to 'try to look prettier'

6. The Deepest Breath (2023)

Filled with breathtaking underwater footage and heart-pumping action, The Deepest Breath chronicles freediver Alessia Zecchini's attempt to traverse the "Blue Hole," an extremely treacherous site on the coast of the Red Sea. Freediving, the practice of plunging deep into the ocean with a single breath, is one of the most dangerous sports in the world, which makes this documentary feel more like a thriller at times. It's also structured like one, opening with a long, stunning shot of Zecchini sinking into the abyss and leaving you in suspense about her fate until much later in the runtime. As a result, the beginning is heavy on exposition, and although the outcome is technically public knowledge, packaging the story as a mystery can feel somewhat exploitative. Still, the film is beautiful and respectful toward its subjects, capturing the psychology of people who choose to risk their lives to plumb unexplored depths. —J.T.

Where to watch The Deepest Breath: Netflix

Director:Laura McGann

Cast:Alessia Zecchini

Related content:Avatar 2 cast explains how they pulled off free diving

5. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (2022)

Marcel the Shell wasn't the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed. He arrived at the height of the pandemic when everyone was emotionally burned out and looking for soothing, heartwarming content (Ted Lasso, anyone?). Enter Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate), an adorable anthropomorphic shell with an expressive googly eye and, of course, shoes. In the film, a recently divorced documentarian (director Dean Fleischer Camp) chronicles Marcel's journey to find his lost family, stealing America's hearts along the way.

While the story is sweet and light, it's far from lightweight, as Marcel makes many simple but profound observations about life, love, and loss. And it's all the more poignant thanks to its autobiographical slant; the character of Marcel originated as a series of YouTube shorts by Slate and then-husband Camp, and they collaborated again on the feature film after their divorce. "There's a lot of autofiction in this movie, a lot of personal experience repurposed," Slate told EW in 2022. "That's, for me, why it feels so alive. It's a moving photographic image of my own emotions or something. I love it so much." —J.T.

Where to watch Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: Netflix

Director:Dean Fleischer Camp

Cast:Jenny Slate, Isabella Rossellini,Rosa Salazar,Thomas Mann, Dean Fleischer Camp, Lesley Stahl, Jesse Cilio

Related content:How Lesley Stahl wound up interviewing her tiniest subject inMarcel the Shell With Shoes On

4. Aftersun (2022)

Charlotte Wells' emotionally devastating directorial debut ponders whether we can ever truly know our parents. Aftersun is the story of a preteen daughter's attempt to understand her dad, and how this relationship haunts her into adulthood. The film bounces back and forth between 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) on vacation in the '90s with her depressed father Calum (Paul Mescal) and a present-day Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) looking back on the video camera footage she captured of their holiday.

The film comes together in fragments; at first, like Sophie, you're not entirely sure what the full picture will look like. But, as the film goes on, Sophie gradually gains clarity and comes to terms with her father's mental health struggles he kept hidden from her as a form of protection. Mescal's sensitive portrayal of Calum earned him his first Oscar nomination, showing why he's quickly become one of the most sought-after leading men working in film today. —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch Aftersun: Netflix

Director: Charlotte Wells

Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall

Related content: Paul Mescal on his turn as a depressed dad in Aftersun: 'Your parents don't always have the answers'

3. Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Part arthouse horror, part comedy of manners, Bodies Bodies Bodies is the ultimate Gen Z movie. Based on the story by "Cat Person" writer Kristen Roupenian, and boasting an all-star cast including Amandla Stenberg, Rachel Sennott, and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm's Maria Bakalova, the film follows a group of twentysomethings with a long catalog of resentments who attend a "hurricane party" at the summer house of a wealthy friend (Pete Davidson). When one of them actually dies during a murder mystery game, their toxic dynamics quickly rise to the surface as they try to find the killer.

While the slasher premise is typical, the execution is anything but. The script is witty and timely, almost to a fault, expertly capturing how woke language can be weaponized to a lethal effect. And the cast is hilarious, especially scene-stealer Sennott and lone millennial Lee Pace. Director Halina Reijn is an acclaimed theater actress, so she encouraged the actors to improvise and choreographed the film more like a stage production, where bodies are moving past each other in a small space. "I'm obsessed with power and sexuality in a pressure-cooker environment," Reijn told EW, "...and we basically treated [Bodies Bodies Bodies] almost as if it was a Chekhov play." —J.T.

Where to watch Bodies Bodies Bodies: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Halina Reijn

Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Pete Davidson

Related content: Lee Pace and Rachel Sennott give killer commentary on our behind-the-scenes Bodies Bodies Bodies gallery

2. Waves (2019)

Lyrical, graceful, and gorgeously shot, Waves is a heartbreaking meditation on loss. The first half pens a slow-burn portrait of Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a high school wrestling star who struggles with the expectations of his well-meaning but domineering father (Sterling K. Brown) and hides the severity of a recent shoulder injury by stealing his dad's pain medication. In the second half, the film shifts perspective to his sister, Emily (Bones and All star Taylor Russell), as their broken family tries to pick up the pieces after a sudden tragedy.

Like A24's Moonlight, Waves is patient in its storytelling and bold in its unconventional structure. The performances are impeccable and the direction by Trey Edward Shults is unforgettable, with every frame composed like a painting. The film didn't find much of an audience or awards buzz, save for a few Gotham nominations, but we hope it's getting the love it deserves from Netflix viewers.—J.T.

Where to watch Waves: Netflix

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Alexa Demie, Lucas Hedges

Related content: The 15 best Sterling K. Brown movies and TV shows, ranked

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Just like its name, Everything Everywhere All at Once is ambitious, messy, and dazzling. The Daniels — the bizarre creative minds who brought you that unhinged "Turn Down for What?" music video — tell the story of Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese immigrant woman who runs a laundromat with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and has a troubled relationship with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), who has come out as queer. Evelyn soon has to jump between universes and inhabit infinite versions of herself, including a kung fu master and a world-famous movie star, to prevent a parallel version of her daughter from destroying the multiverse.

This beautifully chaotic film became the highest-grossing A24 movie at the time (until Civil War unseated it in 2024) and swept at the Oscars in 2023. While the Daniels throw in plenty of hilariously random gags — like a universe in which Evelyn and Joy are rocks or giving Jamie Lee Curtis hot dog fingers — the script has profound things to say about the immigrant experience and healing intergenerational trauma (even if those insights are reached in front of a nihilistic everything bagel). —J.T.

Where to watch Everything Everywhere All at Once: Netflix

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Directors: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jamie Lee Curtis, James Hong

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