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. Millennium Mambo
2. Mulholland Dr.
3. The Royal Tenenbaums
4. Spirited Away
5. 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.

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 Tien-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. Running Out of Time 2 (Johnnie To & Law Wing-cheong)
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: Pulse (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), 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. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. Spirited Away

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.