Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A by-the-numbers look at my 2011 movie viewing year


Oceans was one of a number of movies I viewed
at the 2011 Hong Kong International Film Festival
-- and checked out this past year

Interior view of Penang's E&O Hotel -- which those
who have viewed one of the movies I viewed in
2011 (Road to Dawn) will be familiar!

As the proverbial "they" say, time flies when you're having fun -- to which I'd add "...or when you're busy." In any case, can you believe that it's already 2012? In addition, it's actually now the time of the year for a new edition of a by-the-numbers look at my previous viewing year -- and lest you be new to this blog and not know what I'm referring to: please feel free to go back and check out my by-the-numbers looks at my 2006, 200 7, 2008, 2009 and 2010 moving viewing years! ;b

1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2? -- the number of films I viewed in 2011 from Malaysia (I'm counting here co-production credits for Road to Dawn (Mainland China-Hong Kong-Malaysia-Taiwan, 2007) and a section directed by Ho Yuhang of Quattro Hong Kong 2!)

1 -- the number of movies I viewed on TV this past year

3 -- the number of movies I viewed on board a plane in 2011

4 -- the number of countries whose films I viewed for the first time in 2011 (i.e., Chad, Congo, Israel and Kenya)

4 too -- the number of animated movies I viewed in 2011

5 -- the number of 3-D movies I viewed in 2011 (i.e., 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstacy (Hong Kong), Flying Swords of Dragon Gate (Hong Kong-Mainland China), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (UK), Pina (Germany) and The Adventures Of Tintin (USA-New Zealand))

5 also -- the number of documentaries I viewed in 2011

6 -- the number of (Chinese -- i.e., Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong films and/or co-productions) films viewed in 2011 that were inspired by/have thematic links with the 1911 Revolution

7 -- the number of movies from Japan I viewed for the first time this past year

11 -- the number of black-and-white movies I viewed in 2011

13 -- the number of movies from the USA I viewed this past year

23 -- the number of films I viewed this past year that were part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival program

23 too -- the total number of 2011 Hong Kong movies I viewed this past year

24 -- the number of movies viewed this past year that I'd rate at 8.5 or higher on the brns.com scale (i.e., 3 Idiots (India, 2009), A Good Man, A Good Day (Japan, 1961), A Simple Life (Hong Kong, 2011), All's Well, Ends Well 2011 (Hong Kong, 2011), Atarnajuat: The Fast Runner (Canada, 2001), Carlos (France, 2010 -- technically a mini-series but viewed at the 2011 Hong Kong International Film Festival!), Dangerous Encounter: First Kind (Hong Kong, 1980), Devils on the Doorstep (Mainland China, 2000), Elite Squad 2 (Brazil, 2010), I Love Hong Kong (Hong Kong, 2011), I Saw the Devil (South Korea, 2010), La Dolce Vita (Italy, 1960), Oceans (France-Spain-Switzerland, 2009), Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkey, 2011), Overheard 2 (Hong Kong, 2011), Pina (Germany, 2011), The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Sweden, 2009), The Great Dictator (USA, 1940), The Seventh Heaven (Hong Kong, 1956), The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake (Hong Kong-Mainland China, 2011), The White Meadows (Iran, 2009), West is West (UK, 2010), Waltz with Bashir (Israel, 2008) and When the Tenth Month Comes (Vietnam, 1984))

29 -- the number of different countries and territories whose films I viewed in 2011 (i.e., Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chad, Congo, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, UK and USA)

37 -- the number of Hong Kong movies I viewed for the first time in 2011

60 -- the number of non-Hong Kong movies I viewed for the first time in 2011

97 -- the total number of films I viewed for the first time this past year

1940 -- the year that The Great Dictator, the oldest film I viewed last year, was first released

1950 -- the year that Awful Truth, the oldest Hong Kong movie I viewed in 2011, was first released

3 comments:

Willow said...

Hi Yvonne! Happy new year! This post reminds me I should do a by-the-numbers as well. For books and movies. See ya around. :)

Ross said...

Hi YTSL,

Thanks for this very interesting post. I am just wondering about:

"37 -- the number of Hong Kong movies I viewed for the first time in 2011

60 -- the number of non-Hong Kong movies I viewed for the first time in 2011

107 -- the total number of films I viewed for the first time this past year"

Now 37 + 60 = 97. Are the extra 10 that were unaccounted for 'pseudo-Hong Kong movies'? : )

YTSL said...

Hi Willow --

Good to "hear" from you again. :)

Hi Ross --

Good spot re my not being great at math. (Have corrected that particularly stat.) Like your "pseudo Hong Kong movies" suggestion! :D