Sorry, Baby (2025) and Eddington (2025)

We are back with a new season of Film Trace. In this season, we will survey the short but illustrious history of film studio upstart A24. We will analyze how they have made such a massive impact on filmmaking in such a small amount of time.

In this premiere episode, we are covering two new releases from A24: Sorry, Baby and Eddington. These two films act as bookends to the house style of A24. On one side - soft, highbrow, and cerebral. On the other - daring, outlandish, and transgressive. We pair the flighty rom com of The Holiday (2006) with Sorry, Baby and the conspiracy gumbo of JFK (1991) with Eddington.

In dissecting these four films, the defining traits of A24’s style come sharply into focus. Major studios wouldn't touch either Sorry, Baby or Eddington. Eva Victor's Sorry, Baby is too quiet and too honest about sexual violence and its aftereffects. It also tells its story in a very non-linear fashion. Only an art-house imprint of a major studio would even consider releasing it. Eddington is resolutely an A24 film. Ari Aster is a devout auteur who chooses to tackle the origins of the Covid world where we all still very much reside. The film is diffuse, difficult, and without a clear protagonist or antagonist. It is an anti-studio film, perfect for A24.