These are the 2005 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 Rankings & 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. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
2. Election
3. A History of Violence
4. Linda Linda Linda
5. The New World
6. Oxhide
7. Princess Raccoon
8. Revenge of the Sith
9. Tale of Cinema
10. Three Times

Best Director:

1. Nobuhiro Yamashita, Linda Linda Linda
2. Terrence Malick, The New World
3. Liu Jiayin, Oxhide
4. Seijun Suzuki, Princess Raccoon
5. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Three Times

Terrence Malick’s story of the discovery of America by Europeans, and of the discovery of Europeans by America is probably my favorite film of the 21st Century thus far.

Best Actor:

1. Lee Byung-hun, A Bittersweet Life
2. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
3. Simon Yam, Election
4. Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence
5. Steve Coogan, Tristram Shandy

Best Actress:

1. Luminiţa Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Bae Doona, Linda Linda Linda
3. Q’orianka Kilcher, The New World
4. Zhang Ziyi, Princess Raccoon
5. Shu Qi, Three Times

Supporting Actor:

1. Tony Leung Ka-fai, Election
2. Jacky Cheung, Perhaps Love
3. Ian McDiarmid, Revenge of the Sith
4. Mickey Rourke, Sin City
5. Jeff Daniels, The Squid & the Whale

Supporting Actress:

1. Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
2. Maria Bello, A History of Violence
3. Yû Kashii, Linda Linda Linda
4. Aki Maeda, Linda Linda Linda
5. Uhm Ji-won, Tale of Cinema

Original Screenplay:

1. Kôsuke Mukai, Wakako Miyashita & Nobuhiro Yamashita, Linda Linda Linda
2. Terrence Malick, The New World
3. Liu Jiayin, Oxhide
4. Yoshio Urasawa, Princess Raccoon
5. Chu T’ien-wen & Hou Hsiao-hsien, Three Times

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
2. Josh Olson, A History of Violence
3. Shane Black, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
4. Tony Kushner & Eric Roth, Munich
5. Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tristram Shandy

Not a fan of the Adapted Screenplay category this year. There were probably another four or five original screenplays I would have rather nominated than some of these. Still, Tristram Shandy made me laugh, so that’s good.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Election (Johnnie To)
2. Linda Linda Linda (Nobuhiro Yamashita)
3. Oxhide (Liu Jiayin)
4. Tale of Cinema (Hong Sangsoo)
5. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

Documentary Film:

1. The Aristocrats (Paul Provenza)
2. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party (Michel Gondry)
3. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
4. My Dad is 100 Years Old (Isabella Rossellini)
5. No Direction Home (Martin Scorsese)

I continue to believe that this is Michel Gondry’s best film.

Animated Film:

1. 9 (Shane Acker)
2. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Nick Park & Steve Box)
3. One Man Band (Mark Andrews & Andrew Jimenez)

Unseen Film:

1. L’enfant (The Dardennes)
2. Last Days (Gus Van Sant)
3. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright)
4. The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Ming-liang)

Film Editing:

1. Domino
2. Election
3. The New World
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Three Times

Cinematography:

1. Domino
2. King Kong
3. The New World
4. Perhaps Love
5. Three Times

Art Direction:

1. King Kong
2. The New World
3. Princess Raccoon
4. Seven Swords
5. Three Times

Seijun Suzuki’s musical is one of the weirdest films of the decade, and its stage is essential to its charm.

Costume Design:

1. Kingdom of Heaven
2. Munich
3. The New World
4. Princess Raccoon
5. Seven Swords

Make-up:

1. Domino
2. Kingdom of Heaven
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Seven Swords
5. Sin City

Original Score:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Linda Linda Linda
3. Perhaps Love
4. Princess Raccoon
5. Revenge of the Sith

Giving the nod to Perhaps Love‘s array of musical styles (big Broadway tunes, operetta-style monologues, pop ballads) over Princess Raccoon‘s folk eclecticism and Brokeback Mountain‘s groovy guitar.

Adapted Score:

1. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
2. Linda Linda Linda
3. The New World
4. No Direction Home
5. Walk the Line

Japanese punk over Dylan, Wagner, Johnny Cash, and one awesome concert.

Sound:

1. Domino
2. The New World
3. Perhaps Love
4. Three Times
5. The War of the Worlds

Sound Editing:

1. Domino
2. King Kong
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Serenity
5. The War of the Worlds

Visual Effects:

1. Himalaya Singh
2. King Kong
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Serenity
5. The War of the Worlds

True story: when I was watching King Kong, the Empire State Building sequence, which I knew was totally fake, all special effects, was dizzying enough that it gave me an attack of vertigo and I had to watch the rest of the film lying on the floor. That’s what the Endys are all about.