endy awards

2014 Endy Awards

These are the 2014 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. Nominations and winners are subject to change. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture: 

1. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2
2. Hill of Freedom
3. Horse Money
4. Inherent Vice
5. Jauja
6. Journey to the West
7. A Matter of Interpretation
8. The Midnight After
9. National Gallery
10. Phoenix

I wrote about Fruit Chan’s film a couple of times this past year, after the Seattle International Film Festival and again at the Vancouver Film Festival.

Best Director:

1. Jean-Luc Godard, Adieu au langage
2. Paul Thomas Amderson, Inherent Vice
3. Pedro Costa, Horse Money
4. Lisandro Alonso, Jauja
5. Fruit Chan, The Midnight After

I totally understand the logic of not splitting the winners or nominees of the Directing and Picture categories, especially for a practicing auteurist like me. But what can I say, the Endy voters like to spread the recognition around, hence the nominations for veterans Costa and Godard instead of Wiseman and Hong (both of whom have been nominated recently: Wiseman in 2009 and Hong in 2010, 2011 and 2013 (he won in 2010)). Of course, that didn’t stop me from nominating Johnnie To again, for the fourth straight year and the 12th time since 1999 (he won in 2003, 2006 and 2008). This is Godard’s first Endy nomination, but it won’t be the last as we move further into the past (the Endys run reverse-chronologically).

Best Actor:

1. Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
3. Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner
4. David Oyelowo, Selma
5. Gerard Depardieu, Welcome to New York

A solid group of actors this year, with none really standing out. I could just as easily have nominated any of: Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Haluk Bilgier (Winter Sleep), Ronald Zehrfeld (Phoenix), Miles Teller (Whiplash), Ryo Kase (Hill of Freedom), Louis Koo (Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2), Viggo Mortensen (Jauja), Jake Guyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Fabrizio Rongione (La Sapienza), Jason Schwartzman (Listen Up Philip), Michael Keaton (Birdman), or Randeep Hooda (Highway).

Best Actress:

1. Brandy Burre, Actress
2. Arielle Holmes, Heaven Knows What
3. Anna Kendrick, The Last Five Years
4. Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
5. Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

I recently changed the Endy rules to only allow one film per person per nomination, as I felt the results were unfairly favoring directors like Johnnie To and Hong Sangsoo who make multiple films per year. Under the old system, Anna Kendrick would have been a lock for Best Actress this year, with three terrific lead performances in The Last Five Years, Happy Christmas and Into the Woods. Instead, she loses out to Marion Cotillard, who was a close-runner-up in 2013 for The Immigrant.

Honorable Mentions: Nina Hoss (Phoenix), Tang Wei (The Golden Era), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl), Alia Bhatt (Highway), Gwei Lun-mei (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Tessa Thompson (Dear White People), Zhao Wei (Dearest), and Juliette Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria).

Supporting Actor:

1. Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
2. Tyler Perry, Gone Girl
3. Jonathan Pryce, Listen Up Philip
4. Lam Suet, The Midnight After
5. JK Simmons, Whiplash

Simmons and Pryce are especially terrific, but the Endys love Lam Suet beyond all reason. This is his second nomination, having previously won Supporting Actor in 2003 for PTU. Of the ten nominees for Actor and Supporting Actor this year, only Lam has been nominated previously.

Supporting Actress:

1. Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria
2. Miriam Yeung, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2
3. Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice
4. Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
5. Elisabeth Moss, Listen Up Philip

Blunt is arguably the lead in Into the Woods, but I can’t see how anyone would be billed ahead of Anna Kendrick and so she has to be Supporting. The race comes down to Moss vs. Yeung. This is Moss’s first nomination, though she is one of our favorite television actresses. Yeung lost Best Actress to the Certified Copy Binoche juggernaut in 2010. In previous years, Yeung’s strong work in another supporting role in Aberdeen would have tipped the scale, but alas, no more.


Original Screenplay: 

1. Xin Yukun & Feng Yuanliang, The Coffin in the Mountain
2. Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Hong Sangsoo, Hill of Freedom
4. Lee Kwang-kuk, A Matter of Interpretation
4. Heiward Mak, Uncertain Relationships Society

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Wai Ka-fai, Ryker Chan & Yu Xi, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2
2. Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
3. Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
4. Fruit Chan & Chan Fai-hung, The Midnight After
5. Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child

This is Hong’s seventh Original Screenplay nomination and second win (2010 for Oki’s Movie). This is Wai Ka-fai’s twelfth Screenplay nomination (nine Original, three Adapted). It’s the fifth Screenplay nomination for both Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 (Johnnie To)
2. Hill of Freedom (Hong Sangsoo)
3. Horse Money (Pedro Costa)
4. Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
5. The Midnight After (Fruit Chan)

This is the tenth time the Best Picture and Best Non-English Language Film Endys have overlapped since 1999, but the first time since 2010 (Oki’s Movie).

Documentary Feature:

1. Actress (Robert Greene)
2. Ballet 422 (Jody Lee Lipes)
3. Beyond Zero: 1914-1918 (Bill Morrison)
4. Hit 2 Pass (Kurt Walker)
5. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)

This is Wiseman’s fifth Best Documentary nomination and third win (he previously won for Belfast, Maine in 1999 and La danse in 2009.

Animated Film:

1. Lava (James Ford Murphy)
2. Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore)
3. When Marnie Was There (Hiromasa Yonebayashi)

Short Film:

1. Camera falls from airplane and lands in pig pen–MUST WATCH END!! (Mia Munselle)
2. Inside Voices (Ryland Walker Knight)
3. The Rehearsal (Carl-Antonyn Dufault)
4. Blanket Statement #2: It’s All or Nothing (Jodie Mack)
5. White, Heat, Lights (Haruka Hakunetsuke)

Best title of the year too, obviously.

Unseen Film:

1. Haider (Vishal Bhardwaj)
2. Life of Riley (Alain Resnais)
3. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson)

Film Editing:

1. Adieu au langage
2. The Duke of Burgundy
3. The Midnight After
4. National Gallery
5. Whiplash

Most editing, sure, but Whiplash does it right. Love those retro dissolves in Duke of Burgundy to be sure, and Godard and Wiseman are of course among the best editors ever.

Cinematography:

1. Adieu au langage
2. The Duke of Burgundy
3. Horse Money
4. Jauja
5. The Midnight After

Fabrice Aragno might have earned this award simply for the brain-splitting 3D shot that is the year’s most memorable image, but I’m also in love with the variety and texture of the digital colors of Adieu‘s landscape shots. Horse Money‘s brilliant compositions of earthy browns and impenetrable blacks finish a close second.

Honorable Mentions: Tokyo Tribe, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2, The Golden Era, Mr. Turner, Birdman, Nightcrawler, Aberdeen, Heaven Knows What and Inherent Vice.

Production Design:

1. Aberdeen
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Inherent Vice
4. La Sapienza
5. Tokyo Tribe

Sneaking away with the win is the last 2014 movie I saw before awards night, Sion Sono’s hip-hip musical prowl through a post-apocalyptic Tokyo gangland. Making furniture out of people counts as set decoration, right?

Costume Design:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Inherent Vice
3. Into the Woods
4. The Midnight After
5. Tokyo Tribe

Similarly the Sono snakes this award at the last minute. Honestly, I’m not all that thrilled about any of these.

Make-up:

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. The Midnight After
4. Noah
5. The Taking of Tiger Mountain

Only one of these movies has a guy walking around with a hatchet in his shoulder for half the film.

Original Score:

1. Gone Girl
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Highway
4. Inherent Vice
5. Tokyo Tribe

I mean, it’s wall-to-wall Japanese hip-hop, what’s not to love?

Adapted Score:

1. Eden
2. Into the Woods
3. Jersey Boys
4. The Last Five Years
5. Whiplash

This was an amazing year for film musicals, probably the best since 1984. The adaptation of Into the Woods drew a lot of ire for softening the harshness of the play’s second act, but I don’t know, I think it works just as well in this new version. The Midnight After, Heaven Knows What and Inherent Vice just missed the cut.

Sound:

1. Adieu au langage
2. Heaven Knows What
3. Into the Woods
4. The Midnight After
5. Whiplash

Sound Editing:

1. American Sniper
2. John Wick
3. The Midnight After
4. Pompeii
5. Whiplash

Visual Effects:

1. Aberdeen
2. Lucy
3. The Monkey King
4. Noah
5. Pompeii

These last three categories are pretty self-explanatory: drums, guns and one big volcano. That’s 2014 in film.

1984 Endy Awards

These are the 1984 Endy Awards, wherein I pretend to give out maneki-neko statues to the best in that year in film. This is also a tie-in with our 1984 Year in Review episode of The George Sanders Show. 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. Choose Me
2. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
3. Gremlins
4. Shanghai Blues
5. Stop Making Sense
6. Starman
7. Stranger Than Paradise
8. This Is Spinal Tap
9. The Terminator
10. Wheels on Meals

Best Director:

1. Alan Rudolph, Choose Me
2. Lau Kar-leung, The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
3. Tsui Hark, Shanghai Blues
4. Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise
5. Sammo Hung, Wheels on Meals

Best Actor:

1. Bill Murray, Ghostbusters
2. John Cassavetes, Love Streams
3. Robert DeNiro, Once Upon a Time in America
4. Jeff Bridges, Starman
5. David Byrne, Stop Making Sense

Best Actress:

1. Lesley Ann Warren, Choose Me
2. Gena Rowlands, Love Streams
3. Sylvia Chang, Shanghai Blues
4. Karen Allen, Starman
5. Eszter Balint, Stranger than Paradise

Supporting Actor:

1. M. Emmet Walsh, Blood Simple
2. Fred Gwynne, The Cotton Club
3. Rick Moranis, Ghostbusters
4. Pat Morita, The Karate Kid
5. Christopher Guest, This is Spinal Tap

Supporting Actress:

1. Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose
2. Diane Lane, The Cotton Club
3. Phoebe Cates, Gremlins
4. Jennifer Connolly, Once Upon a Time in America
5. Sally Yeh, Shanghai Blues

Original Screenplay:

1. Alan Rudolph Choose Me
2. Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters
3. Chan Koon-chung, Szeto Cheuk-hon & Raymond To, Shanghai Blues
4. Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise
5. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Sheareer & Rob Reiner, This is Spinal Tap

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Peter Shaffer, Amadeus
2. William Kennedy & Francis Ford Coppola, The Cotton Club
3. Fengcho, Love in a Fallen City
4. Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
5. Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferini & Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America

Non-English Language Film:

1. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau Kar-leung)
2. The Long Arm of the Law (Johnny Mak)
3. Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark)
4. Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung)
5. Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige)

Documentary Film:

1. Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme)
2. The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein)

Animated Film:

1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki)

Unseen Film:

1. Fear City (Abel Ferrara)
2. The Hit (Stephen Frears)
3. The Home and the World (Satyajit Ray)
4. Secret Honor (Robert Altman)
5. Under the Volcano (John Huston)

Film Editing:

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Shanghai Blues
4. Stop Making Sense
5. Wheels on Meals

Cinematography:

1. Choose Me
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Shanghai Blues
4. Stranger than Paradise
5. A Summer at Grandpa’s

Art Direction:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Once Upon a Time in America
4. Shanghai Blues
5. Streets of Fire

Costume Design:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Full Moon in Paris
4. Once Upon a Time in America
5. Wheels on Meals

Make-up:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Ghostbusters
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. The Terminator

Original Score:

1. Choose Me
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Purple Rain
4. Starman
5. This is Spinal Tap

Adapted Score:

1. Amadeus
2. The Cotton Club
3. Footloose
4. Stop Making Sense
5. Stranger than Paradise

Original Song:

1. “Axel F”, Harold Faltermeyer, Beverly Hills Cop
2. “Holding Out for a Hero”, Bonnie Tyler, Footloose
3. “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”, Deniece Williams, Footloose
4. “Purple Rain”, Prince, Purple Rain
5. “When Doves Cry”, Prince, Purple Rain

Sound:

1. Amadeus
2. Choose Me
5. The Cotton Club
4. Stop Making Sense
3. The Terminator

Sound Editing:

1. Dune
2. Ghostbusters
3. Gremlins
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. The Terminator

Visual Effects:

1. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
2. Ghostbusters
3. Gremlins
4. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
5. The Terminator

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1999 Endy Awards

These are the 1999 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. Beau travail
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. Fight Club
4. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
5. The King of Comedy
6. The Matrix
7. The Mission
8. My Neighbors the Yamadas
9. Tempting Heart
10. The Wind Will Carry Us

Best Director:

1. Claire Denis, Beau travail
2. Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut
3. Lilly & Lana Wachowski, The Matrix
4. Johnnie To, The Mission
5. Sylvia Chang, Tempting Heart

Best Actor:

1. Denis Levant, Beau travail
2. Forrest Whitaker, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
3. Stephen Chow, King of Comedy
4. Andy Lau, Running Out of Time
5. Sean Penn, Sweet and Lowdown

Levant will win again in 2012 for Holy Motors. Just missing out on nominations are Andy Lau Ching-wan for Where a Good Man Goes, Bowfinger, Russell Crowe for The Insider and Matthew Broderick for Election.

Best Actress:

1. Reese Witherspoon, Election
2. Milla Jovovich, The Messenger
3. Zhang Ziyi, The Road Home
4. Samantha Morton, Sweet and Lowdown
5. Gigi Leung, Tempting Heart

Supporting Actor:

1. Sydney Pollack, Eyes Wide Shut
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Magnolia
3. Tom Cruise, Magnolia
4. Hugo Weaving, The Matrix
5. Gary Cole, Office Space

Hoffman will win again in 2012 for The Master.

Supporting Actress:

1. Selma Blair, Cruel Intentions
2. Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut
3. Cate Blanchett, The Talented Mr. Ripley
4. Sylvia Chang, Tempting Heart
5. Ruby Wong, Where a Good Man Goes

Original Screenplay:

1. Jim Jarmusch, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
2. Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia
3. Lilly & Lana Wachowski, The Matrix
4. Mike Judge, Office Space
5. Sylvia Chang & Cat Kwan, Tempting Heart

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Claire Denis & Jean-Pol Fargeau, Beau travail
2. Stanley Kubrick & Frederic Raphael, Eyes Wide Shut
3. Jim Uhls, Fight Club
4. Isao Takahata, My Neighbors the Yamadas
5. Trey Parker, Matt Stone & Pam Brady, South Park

I think this is the first year in which I like the nominees for Adapted Screenplay as whole more than the Original Screenplays. In the 21st Century, Adapted is kind of a wasteland, but all five of these are terrific.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Beau travail (Claire Denis)
2. The Mission (Johnnie To)
3. My Neighbors the Yamadas (Isao Takahata)
4. Running Out of Time (Johnnie To)
5. The Wind Will Carry Us (Abbas Kiarostami)

Documentary Film:

1. Belfast, Maine (Frederick Wiseman)
2. Beyond the Mat (Barry W. Blaustein)
3. HHH: A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-hsien (Olivier Assayas)

Animated Film:

1. The Iron Giant (Brad Bird)
2. My Neighbors the Yamadas (Isao Takahata)
3. She and Her Cat (Makoto Shinkai)
4. South Park (Trey Parker)
5. Toy Story 2 (John Lasseter)

Is this the best year for animated features ever?

Unseen Film:

1. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar)
2. Peppermint Candy (Lee Changdong)
3. Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay)
4. Rosetta (The Dardenne Brothers)
5. The Straight Story (David Lynch)

Some big names this year. I should watch more movies.

Film Editing:

1. Beau travail
2. Fight Club
3. Magnolia
4. The Matrix
5. The Mission

Cinematography:

1. Beau travail
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. The Matrix
4. Time Regained
5. The Virgin Suicides

Tempting to go with Eyes Wide Shut just for the opening party sequence, but bullet time. Which is probably a visual effect, but whatever.

Art Direction:

1. Fight Club
2. The Matrix
3. The Phantom Menace
4. Time Regained
5. Topsy-Turvy

Costume Design:

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Galaxy Quest
3. The Matrix
4. Office Space
5. The Phantom Menace

That dress Kidman wears to the Christmas party.

Make-up:

1. Existenz
2. The Matrix
3. The Mummy
4. The Phantom Menace
5. Topsy-Turvy

Original Score:

1. Beau travail
2. The Mission
3. The Phantom Menace
4. South Park
5. The Virgin Suicides

Adapted Score:

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
3. Magnolia
4. Sweet and Lowdown
5. Topsy-Turvy

Shostakovich wins everything.

Original Song:

1. “Save Me”, Aimee Mann, Magnolia
2. “Theme from ‘The Mission'”, Chung Chi-wing, The Mission
3. “Blame Canada”, Trey Parker & Marc Shaiman, South Park
4. “What Would Brian Boitano Do?”, Trey Parker & Marc Shaiman, South Park
5. “Playground Love”, Air, The Virgin Suicides

Sound:

1. Bringing Out the Dead
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. Fight Club
4. Magnolia
5. The Matrix

Sound Editing:

1. Fight Club
2. Magnolia
3. The Matrix
4. The Mummy
5. The Phantom Menace

Visual Effects:

1. Fight Club
2. Galaxy Quest
3. The Matrix
4. The Mummy
5. The Phantom Menace

2000 Endy Awards

These are the 2000 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. La Commune (Paris 1871)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. The Heart of the World
4. The House of Mirth
5. In the Mood for Love
6. Platform
7. Tears of the Black Tiger
8. Time and Tide
9. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
10. Yi yi

So in a year with four of the most-acclaimed Chinese-language films of all-time (the two that appear on Sight & Sound-type lists, the one that is the only Chinese film to ever get any real Oscar consideration, and a favorite among the critical intelligentsia), I’m going with a four hour documentary about a leftist revolt in 19th Century France. I’m unpredictable.

Best Director:

1. Peter Watkins, La Commune (Paris 1871)
2. Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood For Love
4. Jia Zhangke, Platform
5. Edward Yang, Yi yi

With Crouching Tiger‘s American popularity came the inevitable backlash from the genre fan corner, with the film’s various Miramaxisms providing easy fodder (why Anglicize one character name? Why? And yes, it wasn’t Miramax who released it, but Sony, still the flattening aesthetic remains the same). But getting beyond all that, the film remains remarkably accomplished, setting a new standard for prestige martial arts films, one to which every subsequent film this century has aspired. Credit for that has to go to Lee (though I’d like to give a special Endy to Yuen Woo-ping for his choreography and action direction as well).

Best Actor:

1. Chow Yun-fat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Jiang Wen, Devils on the Doorstep
3. Tony Leung, In the Mood for Love
4. Michael Douglas, Wonder Boys
5. Wu Nien-jen, Yi yi

This is Tony Leung’s first Endy win. But I suspect it won’t be his last.

Best Actress:

1. Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Björk, Dancer in the Dark
3. Gillian Anderson, House of Mirth
4. Maggie Cheung, In the Mood for Love
5. Lee Eunju, Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors

Björk is so good she almost makes me like that movie. All these other actresses are amazing as well. Very strong group this year.

Supporting Actor:

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Almost Famous
2. Jack Black, High Fidelity
3. Wu Bai, Time and Tide
4. Benicio del Toro, Traffic
5. Issei Ogata, Yi yi

Supporting Actress:

1. Parker Posey, Best in Show
2. Zhang Ziyi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. Cheng Pei-pei, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
4. Thandie Newton, Mission: Impossible 2
5. Holly Hunter, O Brother Where Art Thou?

I’m following the Oscar convention of categorizing Zhang as Supporting, but isn’t she really the lead? Anyway, this way I can nominate more folks in the lead category this year, when it’s much richer than the supporting group. Zhang will win Best Actress in 2004 and just miss winning it again in 2013.

Original Screenplay:

1. Peter Watkins & Agathe Bluysen, La Commune (Paris 1871)
2. Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love
3. Jia Zhangke, Platform
4. Hong Sangsoo, Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors
5. Edward Yang, Yi yi

This is Hong Sangsoo’s sixth Original Screenplay nomination. He’ll be nominated five times in six years from 2008-2013, winning in 2010.

Adapted Screenplay:

1. James Schamus, Wang Hui-Ling & Tsai Kuo-Jung, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
2. Jiang Wen, Shi Ping, Shi Jianquan & You Fengwei, Devils on the Doorstep
3. Terence Davies, House of Mirth
4. Joel & Ethan Coen, O Brother Where Art Thou?
5. Steve Kloves, Wonder Boys

Top to bottom, this is the strongest Adapted Screenplay group since 2009.

Non-English Language Film:

1. La Commune (Paris 1871) (Peter Watkins)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
3. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
4. Platform (Jia Zhangke)
5. Yi yi (Edward Yang)

Documentary Film:

1. La Commune (Paris 1871) (Peter Watkins)
2. Jeff Buckley: Live in Chicago

Animated Film:

1. Chicken Run (Nick Park & Peter Lord)
2. Escaflowne: The Movie (Kazuki Akane)

Short Film:

1. The Heart of the World (Guy Maddin)

Unseen Film:

1. Eureka (Shinji Aoyama)
2. JSA: Joint Security Area (Park Chanwook)
3. Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky)
4. Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr & Ágnes Hranitzky)
5. The Yards (James Gray)

Also receiving votes: Suzhou River (Lou Ye), Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer), The Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran), and Barking Dogs Never Bite (Bong Joonho).

Film Editing:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. The Heart of the World
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Tears of the Black Tiger
5. Time and Tide

Cinematography:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. The Heart of the World
3. In the Mood for Love
4. Tears of the Black Tiger
5. Yi yi

Art Direction:

1. La Commune (Paris 1871)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
3. The Heart of the World
4. Songs from the Second Floor
5. Tears of the Black Tiger

A revolution in a soundstage cavern.

Costume Design:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. In the Mood for Love
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. Platform
5. Tears of the Black Tiger

Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung’s outfits create at least 75% of the romance in their film.

Make-up:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Help!!!
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
4. Tears of the Black Tiger
5. X-Men

Original Score:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Dancer in the Dark
3. The Heart of the World
4. Needing You. . .
5. Time and Tide

Tough call here, but while I love Björk, Tan Dun is absolutely essential to Crouching Tiger. Possibly the best integration of music into a martial arts film ever.

Adapted Score:

1. High Fidelity
2. In the Mood for Love
3. O Brother Where Art Thou?
4. Platform
5. Tears of the Black Tiger

Original Song:

1. “In the Musicals”, Björk, Dancer in the Dark
2. “I’ve Seen It All”, Björk, Dancer in the Dark
3. “Gan Qing Xian Sang”, Sammi Cheng, Needing You. . .
4. “Things Have Changed”, Bob Dylan, Wonder Boys

Bob Dylan won the Oscar this year, which is great because Yay Bob! But much better than his song was his performance of it on the award show, remote from Australia, he kept sidling up to the camera for an extreme close-up of his Cesar Romero mustache. It was hilarious.

Sound:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. In the Mood for Love
3. Platform
4. Tears of the Black Tiger
5. Yi yi

Sound Editing:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Gladiator
3. Mission: Impossible 2
4. The Perfect Storm
5. Tears of the Black Tiger

Visual Effects:

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
2. Gladiator
3. The Heart of the World
4. Mission to Mars
5. The Perfect Storm

2001 Endy Awards

These are the 2001 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. All About Lily Chou-Chou
2. The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Millennium Mambo
4. Mulholland Dr.
5. Pulse
6. The Royal Tenenbaums
7. Shaolin Soccer
8. Spirited Away
9. Suicide Club
10. What Time is it There?

This is Hou Hsiao-hsien’s second Endy for Best Picture (Flight of the Red Balloon in 2007) and it won’t be his last. Millennium Mambo isn’t generally considered one of Hou’s best, but it was the first of his films that I saw and it remains my favorite many years and rewatches later. We discussed it on the Hou Hsiao-hsien episode of They Shot Pictures and I wrote about it at Seattle Screen Scene.

Best Director:

1. Peter Jackson, The Fellowship of the Ring
2. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Millennium Mambo
3. David Lynch, Mulholland Dr.
4. Wes Anderson, The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away

Lynch just edges out Hou.

Best Actor:

1. Haley Joel Osment, AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. Gene Hackman, The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Stephen Chow, Shaolin Soccer
4. Vincent Gallo, Trouble Every Day
5. Lee Kang-sheng, What Time is it There?

Best Actress:

1. Audrey Tautou, Amélie
2. Sammi Cheng, Love on a Diet
3. Shu Qi, Millennium Mambo
4. Nicole Kidman, The Others
5. Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.

Love the actress category this year, lots of great choices. Not so much with the actors though. Vincent Gallo gets the Endy because I’m convinced no one is really as creepy as he is in Trouble Every Day and so therefore it must be a great performance.

Supporting Actor:

1. Jude Law, AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. Ian McKellen, The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Viggo Mortensen, The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Justin Theroux, Mulholland Dr.
5. Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums

“You shall not pass!”

Supporting Actress:

1. Laura Harring, Mulholland Dr.
2. Gwyneth Paltrow, The Royal Tenenbaums
3. Béatrice Dalle, Trouble Every Day
4. Penélope Cruz, Vanilla Sky
5. Christine Taylor, Zoolander

Did you know that Christine Taylor played the Parker Posey role in the short-lived TV series adaptation of Party Girl?

Original Screenplay:

1. Chu T’ien-wen, Millennium Mambo
2. David Lynch, Mulholland Dr.
3. Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away
5. Michael Showalter & David Wain, Wet Hot American Summer

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Steven Spielberg & Ian Watson, AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. Ken Nolan, Black Hawk Down
3. Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson, The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Wai Ka-fai & Joey O’Bryan, Fulltime Killer
5. Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky

I’d award every one of the Original Screenplay nominees before any of the Adapted ones, and a few more besides.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Suicide Club (Sion Sono)
3. Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
5. What Time is it There? (Tsai Ming-liang)

Documentary Film:

1. If I Should Fall from Grace (Sarah Share)

This film about The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan appears to be the only documentary I’ve seen from 2001. It’s great though, and would be award-worthy in many other years.

Animated Film:

1. Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Shinichirô Watanabe)
2. Metropolis (Rentaro)
3. Monsters, Inc., (Pete Docter)
4. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
5. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)

Unseen Film:

1. In Praise of Love (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (Ashutosh Gowariker)
3. The Lady & the Duke (Eric Rohmer)
4. Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon)
5. Warm Water Under a Bridge (Shohei Imamura)

Also receiving votes: Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly), The Happiness of the Katakuris and Ichi the Killer (Takashi Miike), Va savoir (Jacques Rivette).

Film Editing:

1. Ali
2. Millennium Mambo
3. Mulholland Dr.
4. Pulse
5. The Royal Tenenbaums

A lot of distinct editing approaches this year: the musical trance rhythms of memory (Ali, Millennium Mambo), carefully calibrated shocks and discordances (Mulholland Dr.), an excited buildup to an unexpectedly mellow climax (Spirited Away). I’m giving the award to Tenenbaums, though, for its deft juggling of so many characters and moods into a surprisingly cohesive whole.

Cinematography:

1. Ali
2. Amélie
3. Millennium Mambo
4. Mulholland Dr.
5. The Royal Tenenbaums

The camera in Mambo is in constant motion, floating back and forth, up and down as it traces the remembered life of a depressed young woman, but it never moves in or out: it can’t get any closer to her, and can’t pull away.

Art Direction:

1. AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Moulin Rouge!
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Spirited Away

“You have my bow.” “And my axe!”

Costume Design:

1. The Fellowship of the Ring
2. Love on a Diet
3. Moulin Rouge!
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Wet Hot American Summer

Make-up:

1. AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Love on a Diet
4. Moulin Rouge!
5. Zoolander

With six Endys this year and two more in 2002 for The Two Towers (and none for Return of the King), that makes eight for Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy, the dominant film force of the first half of the first decade of the century, somewhat tarnished now by poorly received sequels. Fellowship remains my favorite of the series.

Original Score:

1. All About Lily Chou-chou
2. Amélie
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
4. Knocking on Heaven’s Door
5. Millennium Mambo

Spirited Away just misses the cut here. This is the third Endy for composer Lim Giong. He will win in 2004 for The World and 2013 for A Touch of Sin.

Adapted Score:

1. If I Should Fall from Grace
2. Moulin Rouge!
3. Mulholland Dr.
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Vanilla Sky

Sound:

1. Ali
2. AI: Artificial Intelligence
3. Millennium Mambo
4. Mulholland Dr.
5. What Time is it There?

Sound Editing:

1. Ali
2. AI: Artificial Intelligence
3. Black Hawk Down
4. The Fellowship of the Ring
5. Pearl Harbor

Visual Effects:

1. AI: Artificial Intelligence
2. The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
4. Shaolin Soccer
5. Zu Warriors

I’m betraying a bias towards the low-fi with nominations for Soccer and especially Zu over slicker products like Black Hawk Down or Amélie. But what can I say, I’m a product of the 80s, where fun and inventive weirdness were more important than verisimilitude.

2002 Endy Awards

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.

2003 Endy Awards

These are the 2003 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. Café Lumière
2. Down with Love
3. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
4. Kill Bill Vol. 1
5. Last Life in the Universe
6. Los Angeles Plays Itself
7. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
8. PTU
9. Running on Karma
10. Turn Left, Turn Right

I’ve had PTU in the top spot here for years, but the more I think about Running on Karma, the more I think it may be the best of all of Johnnie To’s films.

Best Director:

1. Johnnie To, PTU
2. Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, Running on Karma
3. Thom Andersen, Los Angeles Plays Itself
4. Tsai Ming-liang, Goodbye, Dragon Inn
5. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Last Life in the Universe

I suggested in a note on the 2004 Awards that Johnnie To that year, with three films in my personal Top Ten of the year, might have had the best year of any director since John Ford in 1939. Well, actually he had the best year of any director since Johnnie To in 2003. Three films co-directed with Wai Ka-fai and then a solo effort, one of his very best, thrown in on top. That makes seven films in two calendar years. This is To’s second Best Director Endy. He also won in 2006.

Best Actor:

1. Ewan MacGregor, Down with Love
2. Tadanobu Asano, Last Life in the Universe
3. Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
4. Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Andy Lau, Running on Karma

Best Actress:

1. Renée Zellweger, Down with Love
2. Sandra Ng, Golden Chicken 2
3. Meg Ryan, In the Cut
4. Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation
5. Cecilia Cheung, Running on Karma

Supporting Actor:

1. Lau Kar-leung, Drunken Monkey
2. Sonny Chiba, Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Simon Yam, Looking for Mr. Perfect
4. Will Farrell, Old School
5. Lam Suet, PTU

Supporting Actress:

1. Anna Kendrick, Camp
2. Cate Blanchett, Coffee and Cigarettes
3. Lucy Liu, Kill Bill Vol. 1
4. Sinitta Boonyasak, Last Life in the Universe
5. Joan Cusack, School of Rock

A couple of awards here for two of the greatest supporting performers of the last few decades.


Original Screenplay:

1. Eve Ahlert & Dennis Drake, Down with Love
2. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang & Prabda Yoon, Last Life in the Universe
3. Thom Andersen, Los Angeles Plays Itself
4. Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing & Au Kin-yi, Running on Karma
5. Sylvain Chomet, The Triplets of Belleville

Adapted Screenplay:

1. James Yuen, Aubrey Lam & Mark Cheung, Golden Chicken 2
2. James Schamus, John Turman & Michael France, Hulk
3. Jane Campion & Susanna Moore, In the Cut
4. Wai Ka-fai, Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing & Au Kin-yi, Turn Left, Turn Right
5. Peter Weir & John Collee, Master and Commander

Wai, Yau, Yip and Au, the heart of the Milkyway writing team, earn the rare feat of being nominated in both Original and Adapted Screenplay in the same year.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Café Lumière (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-liang)
3. Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
4. PTU (Johnnie To)
5. Running on Karma (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai)

Documentary Film:

1. A Decade Under the Influence (Ted Demme & Richard LaGravenese)
2. The Corporation (Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott)
3. The Fog of War (Errol Morris)
4. Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen)
5. Wheel of Time (Werner Herzog)

Animated Film:

1. The Animatrix (Various)
2. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton)
3. The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet)

Unseen Film:

1. Bad Boys 2 (Michael Bay)
2. The Best of Youth (Marco Tullio Giordana)
3. The Dreamers (Bernardo Bertolucci)
4. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
5. Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho)


Film Editing:

1. Kill Bill Vol. 1
2. Los Angeles Plays Itself
3. Master and Commander
4. PTU
5. Running on Karma

Cinematography:

1. Café Lumière
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Last Life in the Universe
4. Master and Commander
5. PTU

Johnnie To’s signature blacks shot through with intense white spotlights have never looked better, turning the HK night into an ideal stage for his cops-in-a-chaotic-universe morality play.

Art Direction:

1. Down with Love
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Master and Commander
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Return of the King

Costume Design:

1. Down with Love
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Return of the King
5. Running on Karma

Make-up:

1. Kill Bill Vol. 1
2. Master and Commander
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Return of the King
5. Running on Karma

Original Score:

1. Down with Love
2. Master and Commander
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. PTU
5. The Triplets of Belleville

The guitar-heavy score gives PTU an added layer of meaning, evoking the classic rock era in general and the Vietnam War in particular.

Adapted Score:

1. Down with Love
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Lost in Translation
4. Masked and Anonymous
5. School of Rock

Tough call here, I thought I’d go with Tarantino, but Dylan covers “Dixie” so yeah.

Sound:

1. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Master and Commander
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. PTU

Maybe I don’t know what this category is supposed to mean, but the sounds of Tsai Ming-liang’s theatre mean as much to me as anything in any film from this year.

Sound Editing:

1. Kill Bill Vol. 1
2. Master and Commander
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. PTU
5. Return of the King

Visual Effects:

1. Hulk
2. Looney Tunes: Back in Action
3. Master and Commander
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. Return of the King

Love those ships.

2004 Endy Awards

 

These are the 2004 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. 20 30 40
2. 2046
3. Hana and Alice
4. House of Flying Daggers
5. Kung Fu Hustle
6. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
7. The Power of Nightmares
8. Throw Down
9. Tropical Malady
10. The World

For a long time I’ve had Wong Kar-wai’s career-summarizing masterpiece in the top spot for 2004. But come Endy-time here, I’m feeling a bit iconoclastic, a bit in the mood to shake things up. So I’m going with Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s folkloric slow cinema romance in the upset.Best Director:

1. Wong Kar-wai, 2046
2. Shunji Iwai, Hana and Alice
3. Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle
4. Johnnie To, Throw Down
5. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tropical Malady

If you assign a film a number of stars based on quality, say 1-5, and then add up the total number of stars accumulated by a director in a given calendar year, I suspect that Johnnie To in 2004 earned more stars in one year than any director since John Ford in 1939. However, due to a rule change in 2015, I’m no longer considering multiple films for a single nomination, and so the Endy goes to Apichatpong Weerasethakul, despite To being responsible for three of my top twenty films of the year.

Best Actor:

1. Tony Leung, 2046
2. Will Farrell, Anchorman
3. Lau Ching-wan, Fantasia
4. Bill Murray, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
5. Denzel Washington, Man on Fire

Best Actress:

1. Sylvia Chang, 20 30 40
2. Zhang Ziyi, 2046
3. Yū Aoi, Hana and Alice
4. Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. Emmanuelle Devos, Kings and Queen

Supporting Actor:

1. David Carradine, Kill Bill Vol. 2
2. Mathieu Amalric, Kings and Queen
3. Yuen Wah, Kung Fu Hustle
4. Willem Dafoe, The Life Aquatic
5. Sakda Kaewbuadee, Tropical Malady

Supporting Actress:

1. Angelica Lee, 20 30 40
3. Yuen Qiu, Kung Fu Hustle
4. Cate Blanchett, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2. Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls
5. Cherie Ying, Throw Down


Original Screenplay:

1. Will Farrell & Adam McKay, Anchorman
2. Stephen Chow, Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung & Tsang Kan-cheung, Kung Fu Hustle
3. Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing & Au Kin-yee, Throw Down
5. Wong Kar-wai, 2046

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Shunji Iwai, Hana and Alice
2. Guillermo del Toro & Peter Briggs, Hellboy
3. Hayao Miyazaki, Howl’s Moving Castle
4. Brian Helgeland, Man on Fire
5. Tina Fey, Mean Girls

Maybe it’s just me and my weird taste as a cinephile, but it does seem like good adapted screenplays are increasingly rare. Every year I really have to scrounge to find five good ones. Whereas I’m devastated at having to leave Tropical Malady, 20 30 40, Collateral and House of Flying Daggers off the nominee list for Original Screenplay.

Non-English Language Film:
 
1. 2046
2. Hana and Alice
3. Kung Fu Hustle
4. Throw Down
5. Tropical Malady

Documentary Film:

1. Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt
2. Fahrenheit 9/11
3. Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque
4. The Hunting of the President
5. The Power of Nightmares


Remember when there was a horribly mediocre anti-Bush documentary coming out every other week in 2004? I do. Fortunately, Adam Curtis made a great one.

Animated Film:

1. Howl’s Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)

2. The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
3. Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa)

Unseen Film:

1. Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
2. Clean (Olivier Assayas)
3. Dumplings (Fruit Chan)
4. Nobody Knows (Koreeda Hirokazu)
5. Notre musique (Jean-Luc Godard)

Film Editing:

1. 2046
2. Kung Fu Hustle
3. Man on Fire
4. Throw Down
5. Tropical Malady

Cinematography:
 
1. 2046
2. Breaking News
3. Collateral
4. Man on Fire
5. The World


Art Direction:

1. 2046
2. House of Flying Daggers
3. Kung Fu Hustle
4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
5. The World

Steve Zissou’s boat wins out over Zhang Yimou’s rococo brothel.

Costume Design:1. 2046
2. Alexander
3. Hellboy
4. House of Flying Daggers
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Zhang Ziyi’s impossible sleeves win out over Steve Zissou’s red cap and Speedo.Make-up:
1. Hellboy
2. House of Flying Daggers
3. Kill Bill Vol. 2
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. Shaun of the Dead

Original Score:

1. House of Flying Daggers
2. The Incredibles
3. L’Intrus
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. The World


When in doubt, go with Lim Giong.

Adapted Score:

1. Garden State
2. Kill Bill Vol. 2
3. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
4. Le Pont des Arts
5. Shaun of the Dead

Sound:1. Kill Bill Vol. 2
2. Kung Fu Hustle
3. L’Intrus
4. 2046
5. Tropical Malady

Sound Editing:

1. Hellboy
2. The Incredibles
3. Kill Bill Vol. 2
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. Spider-Man 2

Visual Effects:1. Alexander2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Hellboy
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. Resident Evil: Apocalypse

2005 Endy Awards

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.

2006 Endy Awards

These are the 2006 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 Ranking & 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. Déjà Vu
2. The Departed
3. Election 2
4. Exiled
5. I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
6. Miami Vice
7. Still Life
8. Syndromes and a Century
9. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
10. Private Fears in Public Places

A bit of an upset from this Johnnie To fan, but I have always been a huge fan of Ken Loach’s Cannes-winning IRA epic and remain so almost a decade later.

Best Director:

1. Johnnie To, Exiled
2. Michael Mann, Miami Vice
3. Jia Zhangke, Still Life
4. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Syndromes and a Century
5. Ken Loach, The Wind that Shakes the Barley

To gets the make-up award here, with one of his best films of the decade. He just edges out Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who will narrowly best him for this award in 2004.

Best Actor:

1. Aaron Kwok, After This Our Exile
2. Michel Piccoli, Belle toujours
4. Jason Statham, Crank
3. Denzel Washington, Déjà vu
5. Cillian Murphy, The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Best Actress:

1. Ebru Ceylan, Climates
2. Laura Dern, Inland Empire
3. Isabella Leong, Isabella
4. Kirsten Dunst, Marie Antoinette
5. Go Hyun-jung, Woman on the Beach

Supporting Actor:

1. Jack Nicholson, The Departed
2. Anthony Wong, Exiled
3. Adam Beach, Flags of Our Fathers
4. John Ortiz, Miami Vice
5. Pádraic Delaney, The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Supporting Actress:

1. Vera Farmiga, The Departed
2. Gong Li, Miami Vice
3. Margo Martindale, Paris je t’aime
4. Zhao Wei, The Postmodern Life of My Aunt
5. Lindsay Lohan, A Prairie Home Companion

Some may say Nicholson’s performance is too big, too hammy. I say the more the merrier.

Original Screenplay:

1. Szeto Kam-Yuen & Yip Tin-Shing, Exiled
2. Tsai Ming-liang, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone
3. Wai Ka-fai & Au Kin-yee, The Shopaholics
4. Apichatpoing Weereasethakul, Syndromes and a Century
5. Paul Laverty, The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Adapted Screenplay:

1. William Monahan, The Departed
2. Yau Nai-hoi & Yip Tin-shing, Election 2
3. Garrison Keillor, A Prairie Home Companion
4. Jean-Michel Ribes, Private Fears in Public Places
5. Richard Linklater, A Scanner Darkly

Non-English Language Film:

1. Election 2
2. Exiled
3. Isabella
4. Still Life
5. Syndromes and a Century

Documentary Film:

1. This Film is Not Yet Rated
2. Wordplay

Animated Film:

1. Cars
2. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
3. Paprika
4. A Scanner Darkly

This was a tough category, as three of these films are really good. In the end, Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Hosada split the anime vote and Richard Linklater’s rotoscoped Philip K. Dick adaptation sneaks away with the win.

Unseen Film:

1. Black Book (Paul Veerhoeven)
2. Fireworks Wednesday (Asghar Farhadi)
3. I’m a Cyborg, but That’s OK (Park Chan-wook)
4. Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt)
5. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)

As rough as this year seems, there really isn’t a whole lot out there I feel I need to see.

Film Editing:

1. The Departed
2. Crank
3. Exiled
4. Miami Vice
5. Syndromes and a Century

Cinematography:

1. Climates
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Miami Vice
2. Syndromes and a Century
5. The Wind that Shakes the Barley

A watershed year for the digital camera, with Climates and Vice pushing it to its limits.

Art Direction:

1. The Fall
2. Marie Antoinette
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
4. Syndromes and a Century
5. The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Costume Design:

1. Curse of the Golden Flower
2. The Fall
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
5. The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Make-up:

1. Election 2
2. Exiled
3. Marie Antoinette
4. Pan’s Labyrinth
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Original Score:

1. Exiled
2. Isabella
3. Once
4. A Scanner Darkly
5. The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Adapted Score:

1. The Departed
2. Marie Antoinette
3. Miami Vice
4. A Prairie Home Companion
5. Southland Tales

I wish I liked Marie Antoinette more than I do. I dig Coppola’s music though.

Sound:

1. The Departed
2. Exiled
3. Inland Empire
4. Miami Vice
5. Syndromes and a Century

Sound Editing:

1. The Departed
2. Exiled
3. Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Miami Vice
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Visual Effects:

1. Deja vu
2. The Host
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
5. Superman Returns