10 Chinese New Year Movies That'll Help You Ring in the Year of the Dragon
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with Michelle Yeoh? Yes, please!
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There are many ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year—aka the Chinese New Year, aka Spring Festival. You can go to a parade, sit down and eat your fave Chinese New Year foods (I’m a sucker for lucky dumplings and moon cakes), exchange Chinese New Year gifts and red envelopes, or maybe even share a bag of Lucky Candy (if you know, you know). Another, more low-key way to celebrate: watch some Chinese New Year movies. Most of these films are Chinese, but what Americans typically refer to as Chinese New Year is actually celebrated by several Asian countries that traditionally use the lunisolar calendar, including South Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore.
This year, the lunar calendar will be hitting refresh on February 10 as we enter the Year of the Dragon. In Chinese culture, the dragon represents luck, prosperity, and generosity. Like all new years, the lunar calendar is meant to sweep out the past and invite prosperity and luck for the next 365 days...though Chinese New Year celebrations tend to look v different than what you'd find at your typical New Year's Eve party (or in your typical New Year's movies). In addition to lasting 15 days rather than one booze-fueled night, the Lunar New Year is typically spent surrounded by family, but one thing remains true no matter where in the world you are: Nothing beats a New Year's movie marathon.
The New Year's Eve of Old Lee (2016)
This Chinese comedy follows three generations of a family: a father, his daughter, and his granddaughter, who reconnect on the Lunar New Year. The film is about reclaiming family traditions and bonding with the ones you love.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
In this fun flick, a hardworking Chinese immigrant struggling to balance her laundromat business, an IRS audit, and her upcoming Chinese New Year party discovers a newfound power: She can control the fate of the multiverse. Casual!
Wish Dragon (2021)
As you enter the Year of the Dragon, what better way to celebrate than with a movie called Wish Dragon? As a disclaimer: the animated film doesn’t have anything to do with the Lunar New Year. Instead, it follows Din, a young Chinese man who meets a wish-granting dragon, Long, and uses the dragon’s power to reconnect with a childhood friend.
The Joy Luck Club (1993)
The Joy Luck Club also isn’t technically a movie about Chinese New Year—in fact, it isn’t about it at all. However, as the first Hollywood movie to feature an all Asian cast, it is a landmark in Asian American cinema, which should earn it a spot on your Lunar New Year watchlist. It’s especially great to watch with an intergenerational family, as the story follows the immigration stories of four Chinese women and how they impact their Asian American daughters.
Us and Them (2018)
In this gorgeous romance, two ex lovers from the same rural hometown reunite by chance while traveling to Beijing over New Year's, and when they get stranded together for the night, they decide to give their romance a second chance. FYI, things get hot, so maybe don't watch this one with your parents.
Tigertail (2020)
Set in New York, this bittersweet drama revolves around immigrant Pin-Jui as he recounts the life he left behind in Taiwan through stories told to his estranged daughter, Angela. Expect a Chinese New Year's celebration, plenty of flashbacks, and a whole lot of tears.
Mountains May Depart (2016)
Opening with a Chinese New Year's celebration in 1999, Mountains May Depart follows a woman named Tao over a quarter of a decade as she finds herself torn between two different men in the midst of China's economic boom.
A Simple Life (2012)
This tearjerker tells the story of longtime maid Ah Tao who—after suffering a stroke—decides to move into a retirement community rather than accept the care of the man she helped raise. Spoiler alert: Lunar New Year doesn't seem terribly exciting when celebrated from a nursing home.
Last Train Home (2009)
A very different sort of Chinese New Year film, Last Train Home follows a migrant couple as they travel back from Guangzhou to their home village for the New Year's holiday to see their teen daughter, who they only ever see during the Spring Festival. Keep your tissues handy for this one—you'll need 'em.
Reunion Dinner (2022)
In this rom-com, two advertising execs on the cusp of marriage receive a request from a client to livestream their joint reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve. The problem: Their families have never met before...and because he's estranged from his mother, Chaoyang decides to rent a fake family instead.
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