New Year’s Eve is not just fireworks, toasts and countdowns, but also films and TV series! For many it has also become a domestic ritual, a moment to live on the sofa with the feeling of being exactly where you should be.
Choosing what to watch on the night of December 31st is not a detail: it is a way to give a symbolic tone to the year that begins.
There are those who want to laugh, those who want to get excited, those who take refuge in an epic marathon, those who want to start the year with a powerful or disturbing story. Films and TV series, in this sense, become perfect companions: they tell of the passing of time, new beginnings, missed opportunities and those that arrive when you least expect it.
New Year’s themed films: when history meets midnight
Watching a film or series on New Year’s Eve is not a fallback: it’s a choice. It means deciding what story to enter the new year with.
Whether it’s a laugh, a love that comes late, an epic adventure or an uncomfortable reflection, what we watch at midnight says a lot of what we hope for. And perhaps the best way to start the year is not by making big promises, but by choosing a good story.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
It is impossible to separate Bridget Jones from New Year’s Eve. The film begins and ends on New Year’s Eve, transforming the new year into a promise (more or less kept). It’s a romantic comedy about imperfection, expectations and second chances. Watching it on New Year’s Eve means giving yourself the right not to be perfect, but authentic.
Harry, ti presento Sally
The ending set on New Year’s Eve entered the history of romantic cinema. This film talks about waiting, the time it takes to understand each other, and the idea that love often comes when you stop looking for it. Perfect if you want to start the year with a message of adult, not sugary, hope.
New Year’s Eve in New York
Intertwined stories, destinies that touch, the city that never sleeps. It is an ensemble film, imperfect but sincere, which works as an emotional postcard from New Year’s Eve. Ideal if you love the idea of everyone experiencing something, at the same time.
What do you do on New Year’s Eve?
A light and ironic Italian option, perfect if you want something close, recognizable, which plays with the dynamics of the holidays and with the (often unfulfilled) expectations of the end of the year.
Action, fantasy and thriller films: marathons that keep you awake
Ocean’s Eleven
Elegance, rhythm, brilliant dialogues. It’s the right film if you want to start the year with a feeling of control, style and a successful shot. It’s not about New Year’s Eve, but it has the right energy.
The Lord of the Rings
An epic marathon for those with time, desire and stamina. Watching it on New Year’s Eve means starting the year with a symbolic journey: friendship, sacrifice, hope. It’s not just fantasy, it’s modern mythology.
Alice in Borderland
Perfect for those who love survival games and tense atmospheres. It’s a series about choice, fear and survival. Watching it on New Year’s Eve is a radical way to approach the new year: no illusions, just decisions.
The Creator
Recent, visually powerful science fiction that reflects on technology, humanity and the future. Ideal if you want to start the year looking ahead, wondering where we are going.
TV series: symbolic episodes or consolatory marathons
Comedies
Friends – “Good Resolutions” episode: ironic and disillusioned, perfect for laughing at resolutions that we already know we won’t keep.
The Office – “Ultimatum” episode: embarrassment and emotional truths, as often happens at the end of the year.
How I Met Your Mother – Episode “The Limousine”: New Year’s Eve as chaos, hopes and plans that fail.
Modern Family – “New Year’s Eve in Palm Springs” episode: perfect for those who love imperfect new beginnings.
The Big Bang Theory – Ideal for a light and reassuring marathon.
Animation
And Simpson
Futurama
Both perfect for getting through the night with irony, satire and a good dose of truth disguised as a cartoon.
Drama and crime
Gomorrah
Yellowstone
Chernobyl
Intense choices, not consolatory, for those who want to start the year looking at the power, the crisis and the consequences of human choices.
Other options for a different New Year’s Eve
The Great Gatsby or Fight Club: there are guides to make symbolic moments coincide with midnight.
Super 8: nostalgia, mystery and lost childhood.
Midnight Mass: for a restless, spiritual, unconventional New Year.
