The beginning of a new year has everybody itching for change: small and big. Quiet personal resets to scary leaps into the unknown, there is undeniably a sense of hope and excitement in the air every January. This list of films traces new beginnings in all their forms, and captures the perfect feeling of entering a new phase of life.
Frances Ha
Frances Ha is a 2012 American black-and-white comedy-drama film directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written by Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, who also stars in the titular role. The film follows the life of a 27-year-old aspiring dancer in New York City, and touches on themes of adulthood, female friendships and coming into oneself.
Julie & Julia
The narrative follows two parallel journeys of self-discovery unfold through food, writing, and discipline. As Julie cooks her way through Julia Child’s recipes, both women find new directions in life through the one thing that unites us all: food.
Beginners
Directed by Mike Mills, this tender, semi-autobiographical film explores late-life reinvention through a father who comes out as gay after his wife’s death, and a son learning how to love more honestly. It is a gentle and deeply hopeful story about starting over at any age.
Chef
Chef is another story centred around how food brings people together, and gives them hope to find themselves. After a career setback, a chef rediscovers his love for cooking, family, and freedom through a food truck and a cross-country road trip.
Begin Again
As the title promptly points towards, the film portrays that one can always begin again. This is a film about creative rebirth after heartbreak, and follows two lives that intersect in a twist of fate, with a big push of music.
Under the Tuscan Sun
After a rough divorce, Frances, a 35-year-old professor and writer from San Francisco takes a tour of Tuscany at the urging of her friends. On a whim she finds that life sometimes has unexpected ways of giving her everything she wants.
English Vinglish
With the iconic Sridevi at its centre, English Vinglish is a story about the powerful transformation of a mother who visits America for the first time, enrols in an English speaking class, and finds confidence at a later stage in her life.
Wake Up Sid
As cheesy as it may be, this coming-of-age story is about moving at one’s own pace, and finding the idea of home in a big city like Mumbai. Ranbir Kapoor and Konkana Sen Sharma’s characters transition into adulthood, and learn many valuable lessons along the way.
Perfect Days
The lens of Perfect Days portrays a toilet cleaner outside of Tokyo who is content with his life, who subverts every single notion of productivity and capitalism that is shoved down our throats. The frames of this film are phenomenal. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.
The Lunchbox
Another Indian film that tackles beginnings critically is Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox. The cast comprises Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and it is about middle-class India, the largest class in India, and yet the most underrepresented people in cinema. An odd little romance blossoms between Khan and Kaur’s characters through letters as they exchange extraordinarily intimate thoughts that they would never have been able to tell anyone in their lives. They find connection amidst chaos, clutter and disorientation.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
In this classic Zoya Akhtar rom-com, a road trip becomes a reckoning. The star studded cast of Abhay Dheol, Farhan Akhtar and Hritik Roshan’s characters confront fear, friendship, and unfinished emotional business, returning home changed in ways they did not expect.
Pursuit of Happyness
A classic story of perseverance and hope. Against overwhelming odds, a struggling salesman played by Will Smith, fights for stability, and a future for himself and his son.
Date 14.1.2026
