Docs on Films Year End Review

We posted about our first film on Sept. 13. On the last day of 2010, we're 3 1/2 months and 12 films in to this little project. Here's what we've encountered so far:

By decade, the 1950s won with 4 films but the 1930s were a close second with 3. All of our films fell between 1932 and 2000 but Gladiator (2000) was an anomaly--the next newest film was in 1982.

Even though we started off with a foreign film, American films took over this set of 12. Gladiator was, again, an anomaly as it's dual listed US and UK.

Almost all of the films were nominated for major awards:

In terms of nominations, Gandhi leads the pack at 34 with Gladiator close behind with 32. The Battle of San Pietro and Trouble in Paradise were not nominated for any major awards.

If we look at wins, the picture changes just a tad:

Suddenly, Umberto D, In the Year of the Pig, The Magnificent Ambersons, and White Heat join San Pietro and Trouble. But Gandhi won 19 awards and is our award-winningest film of the year with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid taking second place and bumping Gladiator to number 3.

Another interesting tidbit: of the 8 eligible films, 6 are on the National Film Registry. The Magnificent Ambersons, The Battle of San Pietro, and Trouble in Paradise were all listed in 1991; An American in Paris was added in 1993; and Butch Cassidy and White Heat were included in 2003.

Out of the 12, Athelas and I each refused to watch 1 film (La Strada for her, Gladiator for me) and we'd each seen 3 films before starting the project (Butch Cassidy and Gladiator for both of us, La Strada for her, and Gandhi for me). Athelas was thwarted by technology and commercial mail from seeing two: The Magnificent Ambersons and White Heat.

Now, for the crux of the project: did we like the films and would we keep them on the list?

So, Athelas would keep 6 films (keeping in mid that she's working from a total of 10, not 12): In the Year of the Pig, Trouble in Paradise, Butch Cassidy, Last Year at Marienbad, and Gandhi. While I'd keep 7 out of 12: In the Year of the Pig, The Battle of San Pietro, Trouble in Paradise, Butch Cassidy, Last Year at Marienbad, Gandhi, and White Heat.

Whether we liked the film is a different story in some cases. Neither of us chose to eliminate a film from the list that we liked (no surprises there) but we did each choose to keep films on the list that we did not like. Athelas would keep La Strada and I would keep In the Year of the Pig, The Battle of San Pietro, and Last Year at Marienbad. We both enjoyed Trouble in Paradise, Butch Cassidy, and Gandhi. Athelas also liked In the Year of the Pig and Last Year at Marienbad while I also liked The Magnificent Ambersons and White Heat (which don't count for her yet so she may like them).

So, Athelas would keep 6 of the 10 while I would keep 7 of the 12. Athelas liked 5 of the 10 while I liked 5 of the 12.

So, that's our first twelve films in a few nutshells. We have some doozies coming up for 2011 but we get to start the year off right with a film that we've both seen before and we both adore: Edward Scissorhands. That is, of course, followed by a bunch of films that are, well, interesting.