Things can get a little weird in late summer, as the long, hot days of August make their listless march toward efficient September. And that’s just in a normal year! This weekend supercharges the disorienting summer vibes, as a blue moon (and supermoon) waxes overhead to reach its full grandeur on Monday.
As with so many other things beyond our control, the best way to celebrate this heavenly happening is by viewing movies and shows that honor the spirit of the lunation. So take a little moonwalk, give yourself up to the blues, or let out your inner werewolf — but whatever you choose to stream, just be sure to make it count. A weekend like this only comes around once in a blue moon.
But first, what’s new on Netflix?
Un peu de romance: Emily in Paris is back! Season 4, Part 1 of Darren Star’s stylish dramedy est arrivée with a fresh helping of fabulous fashion and romantic confusion for Emily (Lily Collins). Not a francophile? Get together with The Union, a new action comedy from Julian Farino in which an unassuming construction worker (Mark Wahlberg) is recruited by his ex-girlfriend (Halle Berry) for a spy mission. No talent for espionage? Go sincere instead with Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s Daughters, a moving new documentary (which won Sundance’s Audience Award upon its festival premiere) following four young girls as they get ready to attend a daddy-daughter dance with their incarcerated fathers as part of a special program in DC.
If you have just a night …
Put your foot down. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, takes the spotlight in Damien Chazelle’s acclaimed biopic First Man. The 2018 drama, which stars Ryan Gosling as the astronaut, portrays not just the intensive preparations and earthbound politics that led up to his historic spaceflight, but also the impact of Armstrong’s singularly demanding career on his family life. (Claire Foy co-stars as his first wife, Janet.) It all leads up, of course, to that one small step for man.
If you have a whole day …
Let the music take over. The blue moon is as good a sign as any that this is a weekend to lose yourself in the blues, and you can fill a whole day with tales from the musical tradition. First, Brian Oakes’ short 2019 documentary Devil at the Crossroads (part of Netflix’s original ReMastered docuseries) investigates the brief history of blues master Robert Johnson — who, legend has it, made a deal with the devil to be a great musician but paid the price. Check in with another icon in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; George C. Wolfe’s 2020 biopic stars Viola Davis in the title role and depicts a tumultuous recording session (in which the late Chadwick Boseman plays an ambitious trumpeter, in an Oscar-nominated performance). Pair Ma Rainey with Nina Simone, whose wide range and dynamic style incorporated the blues — she’s the subject of Liz Garbus’ Oscar-nominated 2015 documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? And finally, tie it all together with a fictionalized vision of the scene, Tyler Perry’s 2022 drama A Jazzman’s Blues, which depicts a family’s complicated history and musical dreams.
If you have the entire weekend …
Let out a good howl. Werewolves take center stage in Legacies, a spin-off of The Originals (itself a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries) that focuses on Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), a “tri-brid” teenager with witch, werewolf, and vampire ancestry. The fantasy teen drama, created by Julie Plec, follows Hope as she attends a boarding school for talented supernatural beings. What could possibly go wrong?
Don’t forget, you have one last chance …
… to tour the multiverse. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s 2022 Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh as a woman who discovers that she has the ability to travel between parallel universes and inhabit alternate versions of herself — and that she must do so in order to avert the destruction of the whole multiverse. After this weekend, the absurdist dramedy will leave you to do your laundry and taxes solo.
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