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 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. Kung Fu Hustle
2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
3. Throw Down
4. Tropical Malady
5. 2046

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. Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle
2. Johnnie To, Throw Down
3. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tropical Malady
4. Wong Kar-wai, 2046
5. Jia Zhangke, The World

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 ten favorite films of the year.

Best Actor:

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

Best Actress:

1. Julie Delpy, Before Sunset
2. Zhang Ziyi, 2046
3. Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Vol. 2
4. Emmanuelle Devos, Kings and Queen
5. Sylvia Chang, 20 30 40 

Supporting Actor:

1. David Carradine, Kill Bill Vol. 2
2. Mathieu Amalric, Kings and Queen
3. Willem Dafoe, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
4. Yuen Wah, Kung Fu Hustle
5. Aaron Kwok, Throw Down

Supporting Actress:

1. Cate Blanchet, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
2. Angelica Lee, 20 30 40
3. Yuen Qiu, Kung Fu Hustle
4. Cherie Ying, Throw Down
5. Faye Wong, 2046

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
4. Yau Nai-hoi, Yip Tin-shing & Au Kin-yee, Throw Down
5. Wong Kar-wai, 2046

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Guillermo del Toro & Peter Briggs, Hellboy
2. Hayao Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle
3. Claire Denis & Jean-pol Fargeau, L'Intrus
4. Brian Helgeland, Man on Fire
5. Tina Fey, Mean Girls

Some funny scripts this year. 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.

Non-English Language Film:

1. Kung Fu Hustle
2. Throw Down
3. Tropical Malady
4. 2046
5. The World

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)

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. Breaking News
2. Kung Fu Hustle
3. Man on Fire
4. Throw Down
5. 2046

Cinematography:

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

Art Direction:

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

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

Costume Design:

1. Alexander
2. Hellboy
3. House of Flying Daggers
4. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
5. 2046

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. Alexander
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Hellboy
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. Resident Evil: Apocalypse