What to say about the 2021 Apple Chinese New Year short film?

As the Chinese New Year approaches, the festive atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger. In recent years, many manufacturers have begun to launch Chinese New Year short films at this time of the year, among which Apple's short film using its iPhone is particularly out of the loop and has triggered widespread discussion.

In 2021, Apple's Chinese New Year short film arrived as promised. Each year, there has been much praise and criticism about Apple's Chinese New Year shorts, and behind each realistic subject is a director's interpretation of Chinese emotions.

In addition, from 2018 to 2020, Apple's Chinese New Year short films have chosen Chongqing as their main location for three consecutive years. Especially in 2020, "Daughter" is a comprehensive display of the cityscape of Chongqing's main city.

And the earlier "Three Minutes" and "One Bucket" also showed the charm of the mountain city from different sides. However, in 2021, Apple's Chinese New Year short film, both in terms of image style and movie theme, has changed very much.

The short film "Ah Nian", the name given by the protagonist to the New Year's beast in the movie, is now fully online.

The name is simple, and the plot is not complicated, but it is no longer realistic, becoming somewhat magical, even with a hint of horror. The movie does have a frightening opening when a huge claw reaches out to the protagonist.

The New Year's beast is a kind of ferocious beast in traditional Chinese culture, and we often say "New Year", in which "New Year" refers to the New Year's beast. Chinese people used to set off fireworks during the New Year, one of the purposes is to drive away the beast, called "New Year".

But with the banning of fireworks in cities in recent years, and a disregard for traditional culture, many of the younger generation are no longer aware of the legend.

In the movie, the protagonist, Ah Ting, asks why we should be afraid of the New Year's monster.

Perhaps, for thousands of years, people have only inherited such a custom, but have never looked into this question. Instead, the movie tries to give a guess to this question - perhaps the New Year's beast is not scary.

The main character accidentally discovers the beast and becomes friends with it, even bringing it to the village after trusting each other. However, the beast is still frightened by the fireworks and chooses to escape.

The last part of the movie becomes surreal, as the family, driven by the character of the mother, travels to the mountains and calls out to the beast by banging on their lunchboxes.

The yearling also sits around the table with the humans in an egg at the end, which looks even more magical.

The theme of the movie is, after all, to celebrate the Chinese New Year, so the overall tone remains warm. Challenging the public with a subversive perception, even if some of the footage looks frightening, it doesn't have much impact on the overall style.

The New Year's beast in the movie draws on and references many real-life animals, which at first glance look more like gorillas, but with horns and fangs.

In the legend, there are a lot of images about the appearance of the beast, and there is no exact way to say, so everyone played the imagination to create, are also acceptable.

The only thing that feels a bit unrealistic is the role of the mother in the movie. All the key processes are driven by her, and even the thematic ideas that the movie is trying to convey are spoken directly by her.

"Do we really set off these fireworks every year to drive away these monsters? Or is it to light up the other side of the mountain, those places we want to go."

The director of the movie is a Chinese American -- Prince Yi, nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film -- and is naturally capable, but it's hard to say whether he can make a good Chinese story.

Youpin, in his review of the 2020 Apple Chinese New Year short film - "Daughter" - put it bluntly - Apple doesn't understand Chinese feelings or the beauty of Chongqing.

Of course, a short film of about 10 minutes is very limited in what it can show, and even director Jia Zhangke's "A Bucket," which used sand as filler to protect an egg, was completely unacceptable to Youpin.

Chongqing people know that in real life, what is used to fill and protect eggs must be rice or rice husks.

Filmed in Chongqing for three consecutive years, Apple also stopped favoring Chongqing in 2021. However, the movie doesn't actually specify where the filming took place, so it seems OK to say that this is Chongqing.

If you know where the movie was filmed, you can tell us.

Every year, in the comments on Apple's New Year's Eve short film, there's always a response - ads like this, love it!

It's true, although with the purpose of brand and product promotion, every Chinese New Year short film is highlighting the theme of warmth, rather than just a mere commercial.