These are the 2002 Endy Awards, wherein I pretend to give out maneki-neko statues to the best in that year in film. Awards for many other years can be found in the Endy Awards Index. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order and the winners are bolded. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture:

1. Blissfully Yours
2. Chinese Odyssey 2002
3. Golden Chicken
4. Hero
5. Morvern Callar
6. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
7. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
8. Punch-Drunk Love
9. Russian Ark
10. Unknown Pleasures

Best Director:

1. Zhang Yimou, Hero
2. Lynne Ramsay, Morvern Callar
3. Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
4. Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love
5. Jia Zhangke, Unknown Pleasures

Despite another pair of terrific films this year (that makes nine he directed in the three years 2002-2004), Johnnie To does not pick up his fourth Best Director Endy this year. I’ve come all the way back around on Zhang Yimou’s Hero, after years of moving it steadily down my list, a fresh watch has reconfirmed for me its singular greatness.

Best Actor:

1. Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People
2. Nicholas Cage, Adaptation
3. Andy Lau, Infernal Affairs
4. Tony Leung, Infernal Affairs
5. Adam Sandler, Punch-Drunk Love

Lau and Leung also gave terrific performances in comedies this year (Fat Choi Spirit and Chinese Odyssey 2002), but I’m going with their redefinitions of the cop/triad genre icons for their nominations.

Best Actress:

1. Jenjira Pongpas, Blissfully Yours
2. Sandra Ng, Golden Chicken
3. Samantha Morton, Morvern Callar
4. Sammi Cheng, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
5. Thandie Newton, The Truth About Charlie

Very difficult race here between Cheng and Ng’s iconic performance as the prostitute who embodies the entirety of modern Hong Kong history. Both wring remarkable depth out of ultimately silly scenarios, but where Ng is funnier, Cheng is more soulful.

Supporting Actor:

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
2. Tony Leung, Hero
3. Anthony Wong, Infernal Affairs
4. Lau Ching-wan, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
5. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Punch-Drunk Love

This is Daniel Day-Lewis’s second Endy. He will have won in 2007 for There Will Be Blood.

Supporting Actress:

1. Meryl Streep, Adaptation
2. Maggie Cheung, Hero
3. Ye Ji-won, On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
4. Emily Watson, Punch-Drunk Love
5. Zhao Tao, Unknown Pleasures

Original Screenplay:

1. Jeffrey Lau, Chinese Odyssey 2002
2. Samson Chiu & Matt Chow, Golden Chicken
3. Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi & Au Kin-yee, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
4. Hong Sangsoo, On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate
5. Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Adaptation
2. Claire Denis & Emmanuèle Bernheim, Friday Night
3. Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian & Kenneth Lonergan, Gangs of New York
4. Scott Frank & Jon Cohen, Minority Report
5. Lynne Ramsay & Liana Dognini, Morvern Callar

Is there anything more Charlie Kaufman than the fact that the Academy nominated his fictional twin brother for an Oscar, but then gave the award to a Holocaust movie?

Non-English Language Film:

1. Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
2. Hero (Zhang Yimou)
3. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai)
4. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (Hong Sangsoo)
5. Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhangke)

Documentary Film:

1. Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore)
2. Century of the Self (Adam Curtis)
3. Slow Century (Lance Bangs)
4. Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz)
5. Woody Allen: A Life in Film (Richard Schickel)

Animated Film:

1. Ice Age (Chris Wedge)
2. Mike’s New Car (Pete Docter & Roger Gould)

Unseen Film:

1. Femme Fatale (Brian DePalma)
2. One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek)
3. Funny Ha Ha (Andrew Bujalski)
4. So Close (Corey Yuen)
5. The Son (The Dardenne Brothers)

Some other good stuff not nominated, films by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Lee Changdong in particular.

Film Editing:

1. The Century of the Self
2. Infernal Affairs
3. Morvern Callar
4. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
5. Punch-Drunk Love

Cinematography:

1. Friday Night
2. Hero
3. Morvern Callar
4. Punch-Drunk Love
5. Russian Ark

Tough to leave out Far from Heaven, the House of Flying Daggers of suburban melodramas. Russian Ark has the better gimmick, but Hero is supernaturally gorgeous.

Art Direction:

1. Gangs of New York
2. Hero
3. Minority Report
4. Russian Ark
5. The Two Towers

Costume Design:

1. Catch Me If You Can
2. Far from Heaven
3. Gangs of New York
4. Hero
5. Russian Ark

Make-up:

1. 28 Days Later
2. Attack of the Clones
3. Gangs of New York
4. Resident Evil
5. The Two Towers

Original Score:

1. Catch Me If You Can
2. Friday Night
3. Hero
4. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
5. Punch-Drunk Love

Adapted Score:

1. 8 Mile
2. 24 Hour Party People
3. Morvern Callar
4. Punch-Drunk Love
5. Unknown Pleasures

“He Needs Me”.

Sound:

1. Blissfully Yours
2. Morvern Callar
3. Punch-Drunk Love
4. Russian Ark
5. The Two Towers

Sound Editing:

1. Attack of the Clones
2. Minority Report
3. Resident Evil
4. Spider-Man
5. The Two Towers

Visual Effects:

1. Attack of the Clones
2. Hero
3. Minority Report
4. Resident Evil
5. The Two Towers

Sure, Flying Yoda is pretty silly, but that opening chase sequence is still great.