5 Movies to Watch Before They Leave Hulu in September

Like most streaming services, Hulu adds new movies to its platform every month. The streamer usually ends up saying goodbye to more than a few great films every month as well, and that is certainly the case in September. A handful of noteworthy movies are set to vanish from the streaming service in the coming month, including one of the most underrated box office bombs of the 2020s and a contemporary cult classic.

Here are five movies you need to watch before they leave Hulu in September.

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“Petite Maman” (Pyramide Distribution)

“Petite Maman” (2021)

An understated, near-perfect gem from “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” writer-director Céline Sciamma, “Petite Maman” is set to leave Hulu on Sept. 6. A quiet, 72-minute exploration of love, connection and family, the film follows Nelly (Joséphine Sanz), a young girl who travels with her mother (Nina Meurisse) and father (Stéphane Varupenne) to empty out her mother’s childhood home after her grandmother passes away. Once there, Nelly discovers her mother’s younger self playing in the surrounding woods and ends up forming a cross-generational connection with her.

Made with the most delicate and gentlest of hands, “Petite Maman” is not a film that grabs and shakes you by your shoulders but wraps you up in the softest of hugs. Sciemma frequently cited the work of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki as a major influence on the film, and it is not hard to see why. The “Spirited Away” filmmaker’s fingerprints are all over “Petite Maman,” and they are present in not only its heartfelt exploration of familial trauma but also in its belief in the capacity for magic to find its way into our everyday lives — no matter how mundane or lonely they may seem.

“Babylon” (Paramount Pictures)

“Babylon” (2022)

A box office bomb that was widely misunderstood when it was released, director Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” is a 3-hour epic about Hollywood’s transition from its initial silent era into the age of the talkies. Featuring a star-studded cast headlined by Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart and Li Jun Li, the film follows an assortment of actors and creatives who come up in Hollywood in the late 1920s only to find their morals tested and their futures thrown into question by the industry-changing arrival of sound. As a filmmaker, Chazelle made a name for himself with the romantic, endlessly optimistic “La La Land.”

But if that film was about celebrating the idea of Hollywood, then “Babylon” is the uncut, unfiltered B-side alternative to it — one about all the people the entertainment industry has chewed up and spit out over the years due to its prioritization of technological advancement over human artistry. It’s messy, crude, purposefully inelegant and simply bursting at the seams, and yet none of that ultimately matters. “Babylon” is an operatic, over-the-top epic that feels like both a love letter to Hollywood and a molotov cocktail thrown right in its face. It is one of the best films of the decade so far, and you should watch it before it leaves Hulu on Sept. 7.

“Corsage” (IFC Films)

“Corsage” (2022)

“Corsage” is a historical drama determined to buck its own genre’s conventions. Written and directed by Marie Kreutzer, the film is a fictionalized account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (“Phantom Thread” Vicky Krieps). It follows its heroine when she turns 40 and subsequently finds her public image threatened and her royal role reduced to a purely performative one. Facing an increasingly restrictive life, Elisabeth chooses to travel and rebel against societal norms — creating a new legacy for herself in the process.

“Corsage” is, consequently, a period drama unlike any other. It is a delightfully anachronistic, frequently fourth-wall-breaking middle finger to the suffocatingly stately way powerful women are often portrayed throughout history. Electrified at every turn by Krieps’ endearing, charismatic lead performance, “Corsage” is a subversive alternative to most of the big-screen historical dramas that have been and continue to be made both in and outside of Hollywood. It is leaving Hulu on Sept. 9.

“Bad Axe” (IFC Films)

“Bad Axe” (2022)

Here is a documentary that felt vital in the moment and, unfortunately, still does. Director David Siev’s film follows his Asian-American family’s struggles to keep their local restaurant in Bad Axe, Michigan, open — and their immigrant dreams alive — as the COVID-19 pandemic forces them to close their doors and escalating racial tensions in Michigan make them reconsider their place in their community.

Rife with contemporary political and cultural concerns, “Bad Axe” offers a striking portrait of not only the immigrant experience, but also the difficult-to-hold belief that anyone — no matter who they are or where they come from — actually has the ability to build a better life for themselves. It is a must-see documentary, and it is set to leave Hulu on Sept. 17.

“Dinner in America” (Best & Final Releasing)

“Dinner in America” (2022)

“Dinner in America” flew under practically everyone’s radar when it was self-released in May 2022 (after struggling for two years before that to find distribution). The film developed a cult following online, thanks in no small part to TikTok users’ discovery of it, which led to it becoming a modern cult classic and even earning a second theatrical release. It’s not hard to see why “Dinner in America” has endeared itself to so many over the years, either.

Directed with idiosyncratic, rambunctious style by writer-director Adam Rehmeier, the film follows an anarchistic underground hardcore singer (Kyle Gallner) who goes on the run and ends up shacking up with a young woman (Emily Skeggs) who is obsessed with him and his band. The resulting film is a hyped-up coming-of-age black comedy that does not just glorify a punk-rock lifestyle but adopts it itself. It is one of the best hidden gems that Hulu has to offer — until it leaves the platform on Sept. 23, at least.

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