Doc Corner: A24's 'Boys State'

By Glenn Dunks

I watched the new Apple+ and A24 documentary Boys State and, sorry to break it to you, but America is nuts. Like, really. A lot. I’m allergic to nuts—anaphylactic, send me hospital kind of allergic—and I felt as if I were about to break out in hives watching Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ compelling and unsettling new movie. A film about the next generation of wannabe political leaders that stands as a frightening neon-lit (just barely) metaphor for the country’s political climate.

The premise here is something that sounds far more bizarrely foreign to me than anything with subtitles. A strange, long-standing experiment known as Boys State, a social summer camp of sorts that requires military interviews for some reason where 1,200 young Texan teenage boys seek the life-changing opportunity to seemingly learn how to best weaponize their gender, their race and adopt all the sleazy tricks in the political book. "That’s politics—you play to win...”

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Choose Your Quarantine House

These memes have been ubiqutious on twitter the past few days with everyone getting stir crazy but since you might not be on Twitter and you love movie-madness as much as us, we thought we'd share some of the best and most difficult choices in these movie-centered editions of 'Choose Your Quarantine House'

Starting with the A24 which has always had a tremendously inspired social media department. Witness:

Hee. Every house has something wondrous and something highly objectionable or downright terrifying. But it's your choice. And on to the Oscars...

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Gotham Award 2019 Nominations: big boosts for Waves, Uncut Gems, Clemency and more...

by Nathaniel R

There’s no true frontrunner at the Gotham Awards this year with Marriage Story, Uncut Gems, and The Farewell each receiving 3 nominations overall within the 6 (narrative film) categories of the Gotham Awards. Let’s take a look at the nominations shall we? It’s a big year for A24 who always has a few wonderful films up their sleeves each year. They’ve dominated the feature and screenplay and breakthrough actor categories with 60% of the nominees in each. No other company was as dominant though there are lots of honors for Netflix, too.

Best Feature

• The Farewell (A24)

• Hustlers (STXfilms)

• Marriage Story (Netflix)

• Uncut Gems (A24)

• Waves (A24)

The surprise here is surely Hustlers though we’re not complaining. Still one has to feel a bit sorry for The Last Black Man in San Francisco or Diane which were earlier acclaimed indie releases that had to step down for newer ones...

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MidSommar is more fun to relive than to watch

Every time we begin to doubt A24's ability to remain the freshest and funnest and most reliably high quality distributor, they remind us to continue in the faith. Look, for example, at this brilliant insanity they've cooked up to promote MidSommar...

You may have seen that already but we're sharing it as an excuse to discuss the movie again.

Though it's no secret that your host here at The Film Experience is not a fan of the movie (hear the podcast discussion) Murtada was correct in his assertion that the film has inspired some great critical writing. Whether you love the movie like our own Chris Feil or dislike it, like me, it's quite easy to enjoy after the fact. It's already inspiring great fan art, silly memes, and fine critical writing. CONSIDER....

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Interview: Lulu Wang on 'The Farewell' and why it's important to declare she's American

by Murtada Elfadl

When I meet Lulu Wang at the A24 offices in Manhattan, she looks really cool despite the hot weather and despite the fact that she has “not been part of the world since January because I've just been traveling.” Perhaps it’s the effect of Headspace, the meditation app she uses. “It has all of these five or ten minute meditations. I listen to in the car ride between going to screenings. It just helps me breathe.”

January was when her second feature film as a writer and director, The Farewell, premiered at Sundance to ecstatic reviews, including one from this writer. Since then Wang has been flying around the world as the film played at many other film festivals. Wang has drawn on her own family’s history to tell a warm, funny and poignant tale about a young Queens artist, Billi (played by Awkwafina), and the tender relationship she has with her grandmother, whom she calls Nai Nai or "grandma" in Mandarin, and who lives in Changchun, China. When Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, the family decides to hide the news from her and instead concocts a scheme to marry off a cousin, so that they have an excuse to gather around the grandmother one more time before she goes. This lie doesn’t sit well with Billi and the film shows us the friction and love as the family grapples with this. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

 Murtada Elfadl: There were reports last week that you turned down a big payday from a streamer and chose to go with a theatrical release. Why is that important to you?  

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