Maudern Movies: NYE Party Edition
Maudern Movies, a series that curates films for your viewing pleasure.
New Year’s Eve is less about resolutions and more about permission. Permission to stay up too late, dress a little sharper, drink something expensive, flirt with the future, and let the night carry you where it wants. These films understand that energy. The rooms are crowded, the music is loud, the champagne is cold, and something—status, desire, identity—is always at stake.
This list is for the person who wants the party without leaving the house. For pajamas by nine, a well-made drink, and the pleasure of watching other people make questionable decisions at cinematic scale. Different decades, different scenes—but each film captures that charged moment when the night hums and anything feels possible.
Call it party cinema at its most intoxicating: glamorous, slightly reckless, undeniably sexy. Turn the lights down, turn the volume up, and let these movies do what they do best—set the mood and keep it there, right through midnight.
The Great Gatsby (1920s)
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan
A mysterious millionaire stages lavish parties in pursuit of a singular, impossible love. Jazz, champagne, and longing shimmer as the American Dream begins to fracture.
The Cotton Club (1930s)
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane
Inside Harlem’s most exclusive nightclub, music, ambition, and violence coexist after dark. Performers and patrons move between glamour and danger in a city alive with rhythm and risk.
Babylon (1940s)
Directed by: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Brad Pitt
An industry devours itself through excess, ego, and endless celebration. Parties swell to mythic proportions as Hollywood hurtles toward reinvention, leaving wreckage behind.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1950s)
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow
On the Italian coast, privilege becomes something to imitate and possess. Elegant gatherings conceal envy, obsession, and the cost of wanting another life.
Catch Me If You Can (1960s)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks
A teenage impostor glides through cocktail parties, airline lounges, and high society with ease. Reinvention becomes an art form, powered by charm and bravado.
Blow (1970s)
Directed by: Ted Demme
Starring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz
Money, drugs, and nonstop celebration define a life lived at full speed. Parties double as transactions until excess gives way to consequence.
The Last Days of Disco (1980s)
Directed by: Whit Stillman
Starring: Chloë Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale
Young professionals orbit Manhattan dance floors as disco fades and adulthood approaches. Nights out become debates about love, status, and who gets left behind.
Mo' Better Blues (1990s)
Directed by: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes
A jazz trumpeter navigates late-night sets, smoky clubs, and tangled relationships. Music fuels the parties, but ambition threatens to drown out everything else.
Alfie (2000s)
Directed by: Charles Shyer
Starring: Jude Law, Marisa Tomei
A charming bachelor drifts through Manhattan nights and romantic entanglements. Access is effortless. Intimacy remains elusive.
The Great Beauty (2010s)
Directed by: Paolo Sorrentino
Starring: Toni Servillo
Roman soirées unfold amid ancient ruins and modern emptiness. Endless celebration gives way to quiet reckoning as beauty and time collide.
Crazy Rich Asians (2020s)
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding
Destination parties and extraordinary wealth frame a modern love story. Spectacle dazzles, but tradition and expectation shape every move.
