While the festival season has really only just begun—Telluride is over, we’re in the middle of Venice, and the Toronto International Film Festival just beginning—there are plenty of films being released in September that have already earned some well-deserved buzz or promise to entice audiences based on the trailers alone. And with all due respect to titles like “Blinded by the Light,” “The Farewell,” and “Ready or Not,” things are certainly looking up from the rather abysmal last two months. Finally, something worthwhile is hitting screens each and every week.
“It: Chapter Two”
Cast: James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain
Synopsis: In the sleepy town of Derry, the evil clown Pennywise after 27 years to torment the grown-up members of the self-declared Losers’ Club, who have long since drifted apart from one another.
What You Need to Know: After “IT” was a bonafide box office hit in 2017, the already planned sequel became one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. The excitement was further fostered with some pitch-perfect casting, including Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader as adult versions of the Losers’ Club. Director Andy Muschietti returns for the very adult and just-as-upsetting “It: Chapter Two,” which will pick up with the second half of author Stephen King‘s famous novel. The reactions so far have been generally positive, although many critics did note that it doesn’t contain the same magic of the first. Still, most critics have highlighted the performances for being extraordinary, with Hader sounding like a particular standout.
Release Date: September 6
“Ms. Purple”
Cast: Tiffany Chu, Crystal Lee, Jake Choi
Synopsis: A young woman who works as a karaoke hostess in Koreatown reconnects with her estranged brother in the final days of their father’s life.
What You Need to Know: Sometimes, as we inch closer to Oscar season, it’s easy for a film like “Ms. Purple” to be overlooked by the onslaught of festival titles. This would be a shame, especially considering the film is directed by Justin Chon, who helmed the little-seen (and critically adored) 2017 film “Gook.” “Ms. Purple” further cements Chon’s talents as a filmmaker—it’s a story just as passionate and personal as “Gook” but one that tackles a much different subject matter with familiar ties as its focus.
Release Date: September 6
“Downton Abbey”
Cast: Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode
Synopsis: The continuing saga of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them in the English countryside in the early 20th century.
What You Need to Know: If you’re a fan of the (once hugely popular) television series, it’s likely that the news of the “Downton Abbey” movie is as thrilling as any other movie news out there today. While the movie returns many familiar faces from the series—including actors Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, and Joanne Froggatt, as well as Christmas special director Michael Engler—new faces such as Tuppence Middleton also promise to bring a welcome change. The movie should be an added bonus for fans who stuck around for the entirety of the series and are looking forward to seeing some of their favorite characters on the big screen.
Release Date: September 12
“The Goldfinch”
Cast: Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, Jeffrey Wright
Synopsis: A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy Upper East Side family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
What You Need to Know: Sometimes all it takes is a really, really well-timed song in a trailer for a film to set the hook. Then again, when you use one of the great songs of the last decade in The National’s “Terrible Love,” it’s basically a done deal. The combination of songs and visuals promises the kind of emotional journey that often pulls viewers into theaters. Add to that the fact that it’s based on the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Donna Tartt, directed by “Brooklyn” director John Crowley, shot by mastermind DP Roger Deakins, and starring Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Paulson, and Jeffrey Wright, if all goes accordingly, this should be one of the fall’s big hits.
Release Date: September 13
“Monos”
Cast: Sofia Buenaventura, Moises Arias, Julianne Nicholson
Synopsis: On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
What You Need to Know: Much like “Ms. Purple,” “Monos” is a film that shouldn’t be overlooked during peak festival season. Directed by Alejandro Landes, the film tells a tightly contained story that is still fraught with tension. Our critic who saw it at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival called it “timeless,” noting that the film’s direction “evokes the sensory experience of a life lived at the edge of the world, out of modernity, out of time itself, visually representing this separation in beautiful cliffside shots that let the sky and clouds dominate the frame with only one meager corner occupied by people and earth.”
Release Date: September 13