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. Golden Chicken
3. Morvern Callar
4. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
5. Punch-Drunk Love

Best Director:

1. Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
2. Claire Denis, Friday Night
3. Andrew Lau & Alan Mak, Infernal Affiars
4. Lynne Ramsay, Morvern Callar
5. Paul Thomas Anderson, Punch-Drunk Love

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 sixth Best Director Endy this year. Instead, I'm giving it to Paul Thomas Anderson for my favorite of his films, one of the weirdest, sweetest romances of the century so far.

Best Actor:

1. Steve Coogan, 24 Hour Party People
2. Nicholas Cage, Adaptation
3. Tony Leung, Infernal Affairs
4. Andy Lau, 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. Valérie Lemercier, Friday Night
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

Supporting Actor:

1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Punch-Drunk Love
2. Lau Ching-wan, My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
3. Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
4. Tony Leung, Hero
5. Anthony Wong, Infernal Affairs

This is Daniel Day-Lewis's second Endy. He will have won in 2007 for There Will Be Blood.

Supporting Actress:

1. Isabelle Huppert, 8 Women
2. Ludivine Sagnier, 8 Women
3. Meryl Streep, Adaptation
4. Maggie Cheung, Hero
5. Emily Watson, Punch-Drunk Love 

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

Back-to-back wins for Wai, Yau & Au. They won in 2003 (along with Yip Tin-shing) for Running on Karma.

Adapted Screenplay:

1. David Benioff, 25th Hour
2. Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Adaptation
3. Claire Denis & Emmanuèle Bernheim, Friday Night
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. Fat Choi Spirit (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai)
3. Golden Chicken (Samson Chiu)
4. My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To & Wai Ka-fai)
5. Russian Ark (Alexander Sokurov)

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.

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. 8 Women
3. 24 Hour Party People
4. Morvern Callar
5. Punch-Drunk Love

"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. Minority Report
3. Resident Evil
4. Spider-Man
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 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. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
2. Last Life in the Universe
3. Los Angeles Plays Itself
4. PTU
5. Running on Karma

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. Johnnie To is making a mockery of my willingness to consider multiple films when giving out this award. This is To's fifth Best Director Endy. He also won in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2012. (Update: I finally decided to change the rules to mitigate this kind of To dominance. So now he's only won in 2003, 2006 and 2008.)

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. Gordon Liu, Drunken Monkey
3. Sonny Chiba, Kill Bill Vol. 1
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. The Adapted award goes to the continuing adventures of everyone's favorite prostitute/walking avatar of contemporary Hong Kong history and culture.

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 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