Unsurprisingly, putting together this column absolutely bears no resemblance to playing Pokémon.  This writer can’t catch or mention all the interesting films and TV shows streaming this month on various outlets.  But for those who have a little extra viewing time, they can catch on Hulu the return of Yorgos Lanthimos’ outrageous steampunk fantasy “Poor Things” or the second season of “R.J. Decker.”  Kanopy offers some tasty classics this month such as Lewis Milestone’s anti-war masterpiece “All Quiet On The Western Front” and Clair Denis’ unforgettable tale of colonialism in meltdown “White Material.”  

What’s definitely suggested this month? Kanopy’s showing the film marking Charli XCX’s acting debut.  Netflix has a drag sendup of disaster movies.  Hulu’s showing a well-received comedy about two roommates going to increasingly insane lengths to come up with the month’s rent.  

Whether you want to see a real-life mystery involving an enigmatic aunt and Brazilian female wrestling or want to try a Hasan Minhaj-penned tale of competitive Bollywood fusion dance, September’s primo streaming offerings are more life-affirming than the idiotic re-naming of Lake Ontario by the Deranged Orange Coot.

Distant Journey (Criterion Channel)--Alfred Radok’s powerful but censored Holocaust drama uses the love story of Jewish eye doctor Hana and her marriage to Gentile Tonik to evoke the mounting terror of the Nazi anti-Semitic extermination campaign.  Wartime footage and symbolic cinematography contribute to the film’s powerful depiction of the Holocaust.

Hito Hata: Raise The Banner (Criterion Channel)--The first feature-length film made by Asian Americans about Asian-Americans recounts the contributions and hardships of Japanese-Americans from the turn of the 20th century to the 1970s.  Its central character is Oda, a feisty Issei single laborer living in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.  He’s now trying to save the homes of several Little Tokyo residents from the threat of redevelopment.

The Little Sister (Criterion Channel)--Fatima may be a devout Muslim teenager who lives with her Algerian immigrant family in Paris.  Going to university, she wants to develop her own path in life by embracing new experiences.  But she’s not ready to explain to her tradition-minded family that she prefers women.  Will a relationship with sister student Ji-na help her blossom?  Winner of the 2025 Queer Palm.

Our Land (Criterion Channel)--Lucrecia Martel’s acclaimed documentary gets its streaming debut.  In 2009, indigenous leader and activist Javier Chocobar was murdered by white landowner and oil entrepreneur Dario Amin, who felt he had a legal right to the land that Chocobar’s people the Chuschagasta were on.  When the murder trial takes place in 2018, Amin and his accomplices claim they had no intention to kill.  But as Martel shows, the killing is part of Argentina’s larger historical colonialist pattern of Chuscha erasure. 

SCTV All Seasons (Netflix)--This classic sketch comedy show is set up as a broadcast day in the life of the town of Melonville’s TV station.  “Viewers” can see such shows as the soap opera “The Days Of The Week,” “Monster Chiller Horror Theater,” and “Great White North.”  Alumni from the show include John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, and Martin Short.

Songs Of Slow Burning Earth (Ovid)--Olha Zhurba’s restrained documentary portrait of life in wartime Ukraine features no explosions or graphic battlefield images.  Instead, the film's minimalistic approach focuses on how war alters the rhythms of everyday life.  Whether it’s children living with the possible sounding of bombardment alarms to a car greeted by people who are kneeling in respect for unknown reasons, Zhurba’s camera shows the emotional weight of living in a wartime situation.

Chad Powers Season 2 (Hulu)--Glen Powell returns as disgraced former college quarterback Russ Holliday, who disguises himself as the titular character to redeem himself by eventually joining the roster of the South Georgia Catfish football team.  But success and increased attention bring a new set of headaches for Russ.  Can he keep Chad’s prosthetics and story straight?  Will jealous rival quarterback Gerry act on his suspicions regarding Chad?  What will happen to Chad should he play a key role in helping the Catfish defeat the Georgia Bulldogs? 

Folktales (Netflix)--Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s newest documentary takes viewers to a folk high school in northern Norway.  Here, a trio of teen students will learn both survival and dog mushing skills over the course of their gap year.  Hege’s coming off a bad personal year and treats her smartphone like a security blanket.  Nerdy Bjorn has trouble making friends.  Romain’s social anxiety caused him to drop out of high school.  Will this course of study help these students turn their lives around?

Boomba Ride (Ovid)--Key to the future of the very rundown rural Assam school known as Panoi-Jonki Lower Primary School is an 8-year-old boy named Boomba.  He’s the school's lone pupil, and if he leaves both the headmaster and the teacher would become unemployed.   Both school staffers do whatever it takes to keep the boy appeased, yet education is the farthest thing from the child’s mind.  Will the wish of Boomba’s mother that her son be properly educated come true?  Will the school inspector shut down Panol-Jonki?

Erupcja (Kanopy)--In Warsaw, Poland, Nel runs the flower shop she inherited from her mother.  Returning into Nel’s life is childhood friend Bethany (Charli XCX) along with her boyfriend Rob.  She hopes to reconnect with Nel after previously breaking a promise to her.  Rob hopes to propose to Bethany, but the latter isn’t as keen on the idea.  What role will a volcanic eruption play in deciding the matter?

Scenes From A Marriage (1973) (Kanopy)--Divorce lawyer Marianne (Liv Ullmann) and psychology reader Johan (Erland Josephson) seem an ideal couple who have just renewed their marriage contract.  Yet as.Ingmar Bergman’s riveting award-winning dramatic miniseries shows, there are hidden tensions that may result in the disintegration of their marriage.  One of the month’s must-sees.

Teenage Wasteland (Netflix)--In the early 1990s, English teacher Fred Isseks used Middletown High School’s new a/v equipment for his class in Electronic English.  Students would be trained on the equipment then encouraged to find local stories that needed telling.  These upstate New York students decided to investigate the rumor that the local landfill was secretly dumping toxic waste into the area’s water supply.  Jesse Moss and Amanda MCaine’s documentary captures what happened next to these future reporters.  

Dang! Season 1 (Netflix)--Andrew Law (“the Good Place”) created this adult animated series about a brother (Law) and sister (Poppy Liu) who live fun, messy lives in New York City.  That is, until their worst nightmare comes true: their high-achieving older sister (Stephanie Hsu) wants to hang out with them.

The Drop: A Snowfall Saga (Hulu)--This spinoff from “Snowfall” pushes the setting to 1990s Los Angeles in the wake of the fallout from the crack epidemic.  Ex-addict Wanda Bell-Simmons thinks West Coast rap has the potential to change American culture.  But benefitting from exploiting that potential means navigating the treacherous interlap between the music industry and street politics.  That project doesn’t sit well with Leon Simmons, who’s vowed to leave the streets for good and focus on his free legal clinic.

Freeports: The Beauty Of Tax-Free Storage (Ovid)--This documentary introduces viewers to the world of freeports, places where goods can be imported, stored, sold, and even exported without having to worry about sales taxes.   For the super-rich, freeports’ high security and meticulous records make them ideal places for avoiding paying taxes on their valuable goods.

Go Team! (Netflix)--The Tio Mochales company was once the king of Spanish cheese production.  Now it’s barely hanging on.  A team-building retreat in the rural town that gave birth to the company turns out to be anything but rejuvenating when the employees learn major layoffs are on the way.  Instead of team unity, the retreat soon devolves into an orgy of backstabbing and revealed rivalries.

The Maiden (Ovid)--Graham Foy’s enigmatic magical realist tale concerns a trio of suburban teens who wind up cosmically connected to each other thanks to personal loss.  Colton has no way to emotionally deal with the tragic loss of his best friend Kyle.  Whitney, a younger student at Colton and Kyle’s school, has to deal with the slow end of a friendship.

Marama (Shudder)--Mary is a Maori orphan raised in Europe with no knowledge of her roots.  A mysterious letter claiming to have that information directs her to Nathan Cole’s island manor in rural England.  Why does Cole want her to become the manor governess?  What are the mysterious visions of violence that plague Mary?  Is the Maori hut in the manor garden just a prize Cole picked up in New Zealand?  The answers to these questions will eventually lead to Mary’s reclamation of her Maori name Marama.

Tribeca 25 (Netflix)--It’s not a coincidence that both 9/11 and New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival are now 25 years old.  As Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary shows, founders Robert De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal wanted the festival to provide a reason for people to come out and live again after the 9/11 attacks.  Their festival succeeded in that aim and in also incubating such future talents as Jon M. Chu, Nia DaCosta, and Ryan Coogler.

A Sign Of Affection (Hulu)--University student Yuki Itose was born hearing-impaired.  She lives a static lifestyle of schoolwork, text and written communications, and interactions with her best friend Rin Fujishiro.  When Rin’s multilingual friend Itsuomi Nagi learns Yuki can’t hear, his taking the news in stride winds up opening both of their lives.

Suzume (Hulu)--Makoto Shinkai’s “Disaster Trilogy” concludes with this tale of high-school girl Suzume Iwato, whose encounters with “Closer” Souta Munakata leads her to chase a supernatural worm across Japan.  Wherever the worm emerges into Suzume’s world, its presence causes earthquakes.

The Doll (Netflix)--In this new adaptation of Boleslaw Prus’ beloved novel, Stanislaw Wokulski is an ambitious self-made millionaire merchant who longs to break into Warsaw high society.  He also becomes obsessed with winning the heart of aristocratic Izabela Lecka.  But the female aristocrat longs to escape the constraints of aristocracy and redefine her place in a changing world.

Neirud (Ovid)--The title of Fernanda Faya’s documentary happens to be the name of the filmmaker’s aunt, who for some reason was nicknamed “gorilla woman.”  Why that nickname was given leads to the filmmaker rediscovering a time in Brazil when “circuses” were the only places a person could legally see women publicly wrestling.  An all-woman staffed “circus” happened to be run by Faya’s grandmother Nely…and Neirud happened to be a constant companion of Nely’s.

Plastic Beauty (Netflix)--Fumi Namata wants to save lives through her surgical gifts.  When she’s forced to switch her practice to the world of cosmetic medicine, she comes into conflict with celebrity cosmetic surgeon Rin Tohyama, who feels she saves lives by creating beauty.  (Note: Cosmetic surgery is one of Japan’s fastest growing industries.)

Best Of The Best (Netflix)--Lena Khan directs from a Hasan Minhaj script set in the world of Bollywood fusion dance.  Maya and Anjali are childhood best friends who join UCLA’s competitive Bollywood fusion dance team.  Such competitions provide South Asians with places for building community and cultural connection.  But the friends soon discover winning the US fusion dance championship is more raucous and cutthroat than they expected.

Stop! That! Train! (Netflix)--Unemployed friends and train stewardesses Tess and DeeDee sneak onto the Glamazonian Express and pose as stewardesses.  But getting regularly upstaged by stewardesses Amber, Alli, and Ayshleiygh might be the least of their problems.  The train’s barreling towards Stormganza, its brakes are shot, and if something isn’t done it’ll crash into a Florida nuclear plant and also kill some shelter dogs.

Party Down (Complete Series) (Netflix)--Party Down is a Los Angeles-based catering company which employs aspiring writers and actors waiting to get their big break.  The employees often wind up getting entangled with their affluent guests’ lives.  Among the cast are Lizzy Caplan as an authority-hostile struggling comedian and Megan Mullally as a divorcee who wants to help her pre-teen daughter achieve stardom..

Brothers (Apple TV)---Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson play highly fictionalized versions of themselves.  The two actors have been lifelong friends, so it’s no big deal when Harrelson and his family do a healing getaway at McConaughey’s ranch after the engagement of Harrelson’s daughter collapses.  But when McConaughey’s mother accidentally lets slip that the two actors might actually be brothers, Harrelson turns the ranch upside down looking for answers.  Meanwhile, McConaughey’s considering running for governor of Texas.

LifeHack (Netflix)--Kyle, Alex (Yasmin Finney), Sid, and Peter are four terminally online teens who like pranking Internet scammers.  With bills mounting and rising tuition, the quartet decide to rip off Cockney tech douche Don Heard, who claims to have millions in crypto.  The good news is, the heist succeeds.  The bad news is, the quartet gets discovered and the only way out is to pull off an even bigger heist.    

My Sad Dead (Netflix)--Pablo Larrain’s mini-series adapts a quartet of supernatural tales by Mariana Enriquez.  The title story concerns a retired doctor named Ema and her young niece Julie.  Both women share the gift of being able to see and hear the dead, though Julie’s also able to communicate with the dead in an albeit intense and sexual manner.  Julie’s visit with Ema sets off a disturbing chain of events altering the balance between the living and the dead,  with neighbors hearing voices from beyond.

Palimpsest: The Story Of A Name (Ovid)--In this personal documentary, veteran filmmaker Mary Stephen investigates her family history to learn the origin of her Western surname.  Things turn out to be more complicated than she thought, as both her parents had assumed names.  Her mother Hilda, for instance, was known on her immigration documents as Yick Chuk-Kwan.  Continued digging reveals Stephen’s family history is marked by competing narratives.

The Plague (Hulu)--Ben is a middle-schooler attending a water polo summer camp.  His desire to fit in leads him to join the callous Jake and his friends in persecuting the eccentric misfit Eli.  The misfit boy has a mysterious fungal skin infection which Jake and his friends call “the plague,”  Ben’s guilt and empathy for Eli’s situation leads him to befriend the outcast boy.  However, Jake and his buddies soon decide to make Ben’s life a living hell.

She They Us - Towards An Equal Future (Ovid)--Intersectional feminism and global responsibility are not empty catchphrases in this documentary miniseries presenting portraits of women who are fighting for a more equal world.  In different ways, they have to deal daily with discrimination at the points where gender, sexuality, skin color, class, and religion intersect.  Subjects include an e-sports journalist, a domestic worker, and a gender expert.

One Of Them Days (Hulu)--Waitress Dreux Jones (Keke Palmer) and aspiring artist Alyssa Brown (SZA) get an unpleasant surprise when the monthly rent comes due.  Alyssa’s jerk boyfriend has blown the money on his T-shirt company.  Now the two roommates must scramble to raise $1,500 by 6 PM or they’re out on the street.  Nothing is too crazy to attempt to raise money fast, whether it’s giving blood or climbing a telephone pole.  But a revenge-seeking other woman and a ruthless gangster toss in unwanted monkeywrenches into the roommates’ efforts.