September is always a peculiar month for movies, streaming or otherwise. Everyone’s already exhausted from the Summer blockbusters, the holiday seasons haven’t quite begun, and all the buzz is on prestigious festival movies in Venice and Telluride that most of us won’t see for months yet. The month lacks a unifying theme, and people mostly use this time to get into the autumnal mood and catch up on everything that’s slipped through the cracks over the course of the last nine months. So, let’s dive into five must-watch movies to stream this September, leading into the frantic rush of end-of-year movie binging.
Labyrinth (1986)
It’s disheartening to see Hollywood’s apparent disinterest in immersive, otherworldly fantasies. While there have been attempts post-The Lord of the Rings, the focus has been on other genres for the past few decades. Despite the challenges of creating fantasy films, when the genre shines, it truly dazzles. Few films have demonstrated the power of big-screen fantasy more than Labyrinth, a captivating coming-of-age story featuring the incredible work of David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, director Jim Henson, and producer George Lucas.
Boogie Nights (1997)
The plot of this movie is simple: Mark Wahlberg has a huge you-know-what and knows how to use it. Yet, this sprawling epic of the ’70s porn industry is one of the best films to emerge from the late ’90s. Paul Thomas Anderson’s fever dream combines his nascent genius with those of Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Alfred Molina, and Robert Downey Sr. to create a lost cause epic for the 1970s adult entertainment industry.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Noah Baumbach has always drawn inspiration from his life for his movies. The Squid and the Whale examines how he coped with his parents’ divorce. Starring Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney as a separating couple and Owen Kline and a young Jesse Eisenberg as their aggrieved children, Baumbach presents a gripping drama of soured youth, where the ground constantly shifts beneath our feet, and everyone seems to be out to get us (whether they mean to or not). It’s a perfect representation of a youth familiar to many.
A Ghost Story (2017)
David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021) has captivated critics and audiences alike. However, we should have seen it coming, especially after A Ghost Story‘s release. This moving film follows a recently deceased man (portrayed by Casey Affleck wearing a white bedsheet with eye-holes) forced to walk through the ruins of his abandoned life in abject passivity. It’s a weird and wonderful vision of death and those we leave behind to survive us, which hits harder following a year where many had to watch loved ones die from afar.
Worth (2021)
As we approach the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, it’s fitting that Netflix is set to debut Worth. Starring Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci and directed by Sara Colangelo, the film follows a D.C. lawyer charged with determining the value of the lives lost in the terrorist attack. By all accounts, it’s a powerful film with its principal players operating at the height of their craft, and one that stands to dictate much of the awards season conversation heading into the fall festivals and theatrical debuts.
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