These are the 1991 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. Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. Barton Fink
3. A Brighter Summer Day
4. Centre Stage
5. LA Story
6. My Own Private Idaho
7. Once Upon a Time in China
8. Only Yesterday
9. Prospero’s Books
10. Silence of the Lambs

Best Director:

1. Leos Carax, Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. Edward Yang, A Brighter Summer Day
3. Tsui Hark, Once Upon a Time in China
4. Isao Takahata, Only Yesterday
5. Stanley Kwan, Centre Stage

Best Actor:

1. Denis Levant, Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. John Turturro, Barton Fink
3. Chang Chen, A Brighter Summer Day
4. Steve Martin, LA Story
5. John Gielgud, Prospero’s Books

Levant has previously won this award twice, for Beau travail and Holy Motors. Martin and Gielgud are the runners-up, in a tight race to Turturro’s career-defining work.

Best Actress:

1. Juliette Binoche, Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. Maggie Cheung, Centre Stage
3. Irene Jacob, The Double Life of Veronique
4. Thandie Newton, Flirting
5. Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs

Maggie Cheung finally gets her Endy, after her fifth nomination in ten years.

Supporting Actor:

1. John Goodman, Barton Fink
2. Keanu Reeves, My Own Private Idaho
3. Patrick Swayze, Point Break
4. Alan Rickman, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
5. Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs

Goodman also won Best Supporting Actor for The Big Lebowski in 1998. Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar this year of course, but he’s on-screen for only about 15 minutes. Reeves and Swayze get nominated for career-best performances. Chang Kuo-chou just misses the nomination for A Brighter Summer Day, which would have made him and Chang Chen the first ever father/son pair to be nominated in the same year.

Supporting Actress:

1. Judy Davis, Barton Fink
2. Annette Bening, Bugsy
3. Nicole Kidman, Flirting
4. Linda Hamilton, Terminator 2: Judgement Day
5. Rosamund Kwan, Tricky Brains

Was tempted to place Jennifer Jason Leigh in Rush here, but after taking a hardline against Anthony Hopkins I can’t rightly bend the rules for her. Well, I can because these are my awards and I can do whatever I want, but I’d feel bad about it.

Original Screenplay:

1. Joel & Ethan Coen, Barton Fink
2. Hung Hung, Lai Mingtang, Alex Yang & Edward Yang, A Brighter Summer Day
3. Peggy Chiao, Centre Stage
4. Krzysztof Kieślowski & Krzysztof Piesiewicz, The Double Life of Veronique
5. Steve Martin, LA Story

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Oliver Stone & Zachary Sklar, JFK
2. Gus Van Sant, My Own Private Idaho
3. Tsui Hark, Yuen Kai-chi, Leung Yiu-ming & Elsa Tang, Once Upon a Time in China
4. Isao Takahata, Only Yesterday
5. Peter Greenaway, Prospero’s Books

Non-English Language Film:

1. Les amants du Pont-Neuf (Leos Carax)
2. A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang)
3. Centre Stage (Stanley Kwan)
4. Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui Hark)
5. Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata)

Non-Fiction Film:

1. A Brief History of Time (Errol Morris)
2. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Eleanor Coppola, George Hickenlooper & Fax Bahr)
3. Madonna: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian & Mark Aldo Miceli)

Animated Film:

1. Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise)
2. Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata)

Unseen Film:

1. La belle noiseuse (Jacques Rivette)
2. Jungle Fever (Spike Lee)
3. The Stranger (Satyajit Ray)
4. Van Gogh (Maurice Pialat) 

Really want to see Van Gogh. One of my movie goals for 2016.

Film Editing:

1. A Brighter Summer Day
2. Centre Stage
3. JFK
4. Once Upon a Time in China
5. Only Yesterday

Cinematography:

1. A Brighter Summer Day
2. Centre Stage
3. The Double Life of Veronique
4. JFK
5. Prospero’s Books

As cliché and ripe for parody as Oliver Stone’s rapid-cuts and film stock shifts would become, JFK is a truly wondrous whirlwind.

Art Direction:

1. The Addams Family
2. Les amants du Pont-Neuf
3. Centre Stage
4. Once Upon a Time in China
5. Prospero’s Books

Costume Design:

1. The Addams Family
2. Barton Fink
3. Bugsy
4. Centre Stage
5. Raise the Red Lantern

Stanley Kwan’s recreation of the Shanghai film world in the 1930s is as meticulous as it is lovely, the lush costumes and sets trapping actress Ruan Lingyu in luxury and fame.

Make-up:

1. The Addams Family
2. Les amants du Pont-Neuf
3. Centre Stage
4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day 

Original Score:

1. Barton Fink
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Delicatessen
4. JFK
5. Until the End of the World

Adapted Score:

1. Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. Boyz N the Hood
3. The Doors
4. Once Upon a Time in China
5. Only Yesterday 

I mean, there’s a Japanese translation of the theme from The Rose and two songs by Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute.

Sound:

1. Les amants du Pont-Neuf
2. Barton Fink
3. A Brighter Summer Day
4. JFK
5. Prospero’s Books

Sound Editing:

1. Backdraft
2. JFK
3. Point Break
4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Visual Effects:

1. Backdraft
2. Hook
3. Once Upon a Time in China
4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day 

Really tempted to give the Endy to the wire-fu in Once Upon a Time in China, but that would be kind of insane. Besides, Tsui Hark’s effects won in 1992 for Swordsman II.