Even for the sweater-weather and pumpkin-spice lovers among us, it’s sad to say goodbye to the summertime. As these hot, lazy days to which we’ve now grown accustomed draw to an end, we know that nine long months lie ahead before we’re back to this sultry, sunny season. Even with a little bit of August left to go, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic for the summer already. 

Give into those feelings with a moody end-of-summer stream that reflects on the bittersweet passage of time. Watch a coming-of-age tale about a woman remembering a long-ago vacation, a romance that tells a decades-long story across the same day in July, or a few series that celebrate something else that’s perfect and warm — and heartbreaking to part with.   

But first, what’s new on Netflix?

A football tragedy. The first entry in Volume 4 of the UNTOLD series of sports docs, Rodney Lucas and Taylor Ward’s The Murder of Air McNair examines the star NFL quarterback’s shocking death. Going to pass on that? Dave Chernin and John Chernin’s Incoming is coming in just in time for the school year; the new teen comedy follows four high school freshmen navigating their first wild house party. Prefer to hang with the grown-ups? Langston Kerman mines modern life for humor in his comedy special Bad Poetry, directed by John Mulaney.  

If you have just a night… 

Go on holiday into memory. In Charlotte Wells’ semi-autobiographical 2022 feature debut Aftersun, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) goes on vacation with her father (Paul Mescal, in an Oscar-nominated performance) to Turkey in the ’90s. In the present day, adult Sophie remembers the holiday, piecing together footage from her old-school camcorder as well as half-dreamed memories to revisit — and maybe to clarify — her hazy childhood impressions of her enigmatic father. 

If you have a whole day… 

Devote it to One Day. The 2024 romantic drama series, adapted from David Nicholls’ beloved 2009 novel, takes place over the course of almost two decades, but on one day — specifically, July 15. From the late ’80s into the 2000s, the story checks in annually with Emma (Ambika Mod) and Dexter (Leo Woodall), two Brits who meet just as they finish university and have a dynamic, sometimes romantic, always meaningful relationship from there. As you look back on your own long stretch of summer days, there’s no one better to keep you company than Emma and Dexter as they move through years of their own.  

If you have the entire weekend… 

Spend it with man’s best friend. Nobody embraces the essential summer ethos of living in the moment quite like a dog, and for anyone with warm nostalgia for a long-ago canine companion, their time together was surely a bright season. Celebrate the species with the loving 2021 documentary Dogs, each episode of which follows a very special animal and the people whose lives they improve. Pair that with 2022’s Muster Dogs, in which Australian farmers try to train an unruly crew of puppies. What better way to close out these dog days of summer? 

Don’t forget, you have one last chance… 

… to go undercover. Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence star (and all received Oscar nods for their performances) in American Hustle, the 2013 dark comedy from David O. Russell in which two con artists (Bale and Adams) help an FBI agent (Cooper) organize a sting operation targeting corrupt politicians. In another week, it will hustle on outta here. 

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