What's New on Netflix Australia in September 2018

Yout Netflix Australia TV Guide for September 2018

Jonah Hill in a production still from Netflix series 'Maniac'
Netflix

Jonah Hill in a production still from Netflix series 'Maniac'

Jonah Hill in a production still from Netflix series 'Maniac'

The season of spring brings about high spirits and even higher pollen counts. For those of you affected by allergy season, we’ve gone and rounded up September’s best titles – because you might as well put those puffy eyes to use.

Sierra Burgess is a Loser (film)

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Barb Holland, Ethel Muggs, and now Sierra Burgess – it’s hard not to see actress Shannon Purser as TV’s ‘unattractive dweeb friend’.

Sierra is in the marching band, is picked on by mean girls, and as the title suggests, is a loser. But that’s all about to change when Jamey (Noah Centineo), a cute guy from school, accidentally texts her instead of Veronica (Kristine Froseth), the resident mean girl. Looking for meaning beyond SAT scores and band practice, Sierra decides to go along with it.

We’re all for her gaining confidence and forming some unlikely friendships along the way – but at the end of the day, she still straight up catfished a guy.

Sierra Burgess is a Loser airs September 7.

Iron Fist: Season 2 (series)

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Hot take: no one would have watched Iron Fist if it wasn’t under the Marvel umbrella. The story was slow, the fight sequences even slower. For a show centred on martial arts, every fight scene looked more like an off-camera rehearsal.

Well, judging by a day-old featurette on YouTube – “Building an epic fight sequence” – show runners know where they went wrong. This season, they’ve hired stunt coordinator Clayton Barber, who’s influenced the action in John Wick: Chapter 2, Creed, and Black Panther.

Barber wanted the action to emulate a punk rock song, and so focused on rhythm and tempo. He trained actors to perform their sequences until it became second nature, which will hopefully add some on-screen urgency. If that still doesn’t work, may we suggest using real weapons?

Iron Fist: Season 2 airs September 7.

City of Joy (documentary)

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The City of Joy is a community in eastern Congo for women who endured rape and torture in the war-torn region. Under the care and guidance of founders Dr. Denis Mukwege, playwright Eve Ensler, and women’s rights activist Christine Schuler Deschryver, these women have a safe place to heal and “turn their pain into power”.

The community serves 90 survivors of gender violence aged 18-30 at a time, and has graduated over 1100 women leaders since it opened in 2011.

Though these women have withstood unspeakable acts of violence, City of Joy director Madeleine Gavin does not frame them as victims, rather, as individuals showing “tremendous strength, vitality and commitment”.

City of Joy airs September 7.

On My Skin (film)

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No prison is great, but Italy’s are notorious for overcrowding, guard to prisoner ratio, and abuse of power.

In October 2009, Stefano Cucchi was arrested for possession and then taken into custody. He died in a prison hospital a week later. A post-mortem showed extreme dehydration, two broken vertebrae and ruptured internal organs. Staff simply said he had fallen down some stairs. A junior minister publicly stated that Cucchi died because he was “anorexic, a drug addict and HIV-positive.”

On My Skin circulates around the last days of Cucchi’s life, followed by the tireless fight for justice and truth led by his family. It is co-written and directed by Allesio Cremonini, and stars Suburra’s Alessandro Borghi as Stefano Cucchi.

On My Skin airs September 12.

Maniac (series)

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Jonah Hill and Emma Stone (forever in our hearts as Seth and Jules) reunite in the trippiest series airing outside of Cartoon Network. The trailer is a bit blotto, but we gather that Hill and Stone are aimless participants in a mind experiment by a quasi-scientist (Justin Theroux).

Once strapped in, their minds can take them to any time and setting imaginable. Our favourite simulations so far are: Lord of the Rings barren plains, Mad Men office space, and a giant purple koala.

Maniac is written by novelist Patrick Somerville and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective: Season 1).

Maniac airs September 21.

Hold the Dark (film)

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Hold the Dark takes place in a shadowy and remote Alaskan village, in which villagers believe that their children have been taken by wild wolves.

Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright), a retired naturalist, agrees to investigate a kidnapping after receiving word from a grieving mother (Riley Keough). Not saying that Core dies in this exploit, but if so, it’s his own fault for responding to a letter that read:

“... my son Bailey was taken by wolves. No one in the village will hunt them. My husband will come home from the war soon. I must have something to show him.”

Yeah, if you don’t think your husband will believe you until you produce a corpse, I’m not about to end up as the next one. And it’s not just her. The whole town is freaky and cult-like. We don’t know yet who’s kidnapping children, but mark our words – it sure ain’t the wolves.

Hold the Dark airs September 28.

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