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2005 CINEMATHEQUE AWARDS

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WINNERS HIGHLIGHTED IN GOLD

BEST ACTION SEQUENCE and/or FIGHT SCENE
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
"Obi-Wan vs. Gen. Grevious"		 Kung Fu Hustle
"The Heroes Reveal Themselves"		 King Kong
"King Kong vs. the V-Rex's"		 A History of Violence
"Front Yard Bloodbath"		 OldBoy
"Hallway Tracking Shot Fight"		 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
"Obi Wan vs. Anikan"
Not one, not two, not three, but four fucking lightsabres!!? All the fight scenes roll into one, but this one manages to stand out. Not one, not two, but three fucking dinosaurs!!? We finally see that Tom Stall may be exactly who they say he is. Our anti-hero plows through his own version of a hatchet gang. It's what made Anikan, Darth Vader. Plus it's great to see Hadyn Christenson get THAT beat up!
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Runners-up: The penulitimate bloody scene on the stairs in The Beat that my Heart Skipped * The Empire State Building finale in King Kong. Iconic and devestating.

Honourable Mentions: The final free-for-all from Serenity *

LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
HERO * HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS * KILL BILL VOL 2 * SPIDER-MAN 2 * ALEXANDER * HERO

BEST KISS
My Summer of Love
Natalie Press
and
Emily Blunt		 Brokeback Mountain
Heath Ledger
and
Jake Gyllenhaal		 Walk the Line
Joaquin Phoenix
and
Reese Witherspoon		 2046
Tony Leung
and
Gong Li		 Brødre
Connie Nielsen
and
Nikolaj Lie Kaas		 The Holy Girl
Maria Alche
and
Julieta Zylberberg
The first trepedatious peck or the final brutal liplock. Take your pick. As Alma watches in disbelief, Ennis & Jack welcome each other back into their lives. Even though we all know it's coming, the sexual tension leading up to that eventual, inevitable first kiss is like emotional nails scratching down a blackboard. A final lipstick smathering blast from the past. At first hatred, then grief, then these two find a new love where neither thought it could ever be. Questions of love and sex and God.
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Runners-up: Typhoid Mary kissing over her poisons to Jen Garner in Elektra is probably the high point to a very low-pointed movie * Colin Farrell & Q'Orianka Kilcher play cat & mouse in the fields of The New World * Seung-yeon Lee & Hyun-kyoon Lee sneak kisses - literally - right behind her husband's back in 3-Iron.

Honourable Mentions: Keira Knightly & Matthew McFayden in Pride & Prejudice. Who knew Jane Austen could be this passionate? * A sweet kiss between long ago lovers Liv Ullman & Erland Josephson in Saraband * Natasha Slayton & Najarra Townsend giving Brad William Henke something to think about in Me and You and Everyone We Know.

LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
BIRTH * ENDURING LOVE * THE MOTHER * MEAN CREEK * BROWN BUNNY
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

BEST LOVE / SEX SCENE
The Constant Gardener
Rachel Weisz
and
Ralph Fiennes		 Brokeback Mountain
Heath Ledger
and
Jake Gyllenhaal		 A History of Violence
Viggo Mortensen
and
Maria Bello		 Ma Mère
Isabelle Huppert
and
Louis Garrel		 Head-On
Birol Ünel
and
Sibel Kekilli		 2046
Tony Leung
and
Zhang Ziyi
The most beautifully shot love scene of the year. From rough to tender. Two scared men fall in love. From tender to rough. Two people confusedly fucking. Mother and son. Jocasta and Oedipus. Inevitable fable come true. Two lost souls fall together in a doomed love. Both playful and erotic. The red hues of the film come together just as Bai Ling and Mr. Chow do.
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Runners-up: The backwards divorce-to-marriage story of Stephane Freiss & Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in 5x2 *

Honourable Mentions: The 40 Year Old Virgin...finally * The cheerleader outfit in A History of Violence * Blow-job blow-off in Or (Mon Tresor) * Young love in My Summer of Love * Hand-job love in WKW's segment of Eros.

LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
BROWN BUNNY * ANATOMY OF HELL * I ♥ HUCKABEES * THE MOTHER * THE DREAMERS
HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS

BEST CHARACTER INTRO
The Constant Gardener
Rachel Weisz
as
Tessa		 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Darth Vader		 Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
Johnny Depp
as
Willie Wonka		 Walk The Line
Reese Witherspoon
as
June Carter		 Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Helena Bonham Carter
as
The Corpse Bride		 King Kong
King Kong
Technically we see a hazy glimpse of Tessa at the very beginning, but it is in her lambasting of future husband Justin that she enters full storm. Hello, can you get any more iconic than this + it's just great that finally Hadyn Christenson is out of the damn picture. Johnny Depp can make pretty much any entrance a memorable one - even if it is in a lesser film like this. Reese Witherspoon plays June Carter like a tornado let loose upon all that get in her path and her first entrance establishes all that. Out of the grave and into our...um, hearts? This one is obvious isn't it? Big fucking ape comes out of the big fucking jungle!!
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Runners-up: "Howl" swept in like a knight in shining (magical) armour in Howl's Moving Castle * "Mr. Darcy" enters the ballroom, in Pride & Prejudice, as if the King of England (or at least like a man every girl desires)

Honourable Mentions: Kung Fu Hustle's "The Axe Gang" marches forward in a sunset fight scene straight out of legend * In War of the Worlds, "The Aliens" bust loose on humanity in the most ferocious way (too bad the film can't hold up after that initial onslaught) * In Rent, it is "Maureen" that enters all ablaze upon her motorcycle.

Special Mention: Pretty much everyone in Frank Miller's Sin City enters the scene in a dramatic manner, but no single character stands out more than the others.

LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
KATHERINE HEPBURN (AVIATOR) * GRACE (DOGVILLE) * ALICE (CLOSER) * ISABELLE (THE DREAMERS)
ELASTI-GIRL (THE INCREDIBLES) * PUSS-N-BOOTS (SHREK 2)

BEST DEATH SCENE
King Kong
Kong		 Caché
Majid		 Ma Mère
Hélène		 Frank Miller's Sin City
Kevin		 Last Days
Blake		 The New World
Pocohantas
You know it's coming, but... Quick, unexpected...just the way Haneke likes it. Mommy, don't go... Kevin...eaten by his own dog. Blake ascends to Heaven (or is it Nirvana?) Dreadful and tragic.
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Special Mention: Jack's Death in Brokeback Mountain is more resonant not for his death but for Ennis' reaction to it.

LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
KILL BILL VOL 2 * HERO * 29 PALMS * MEAN CREEK * MILLION DOLLAR BABY
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

BEST ANIMAL / ANIMAL RELATED SCENE
King Kong OldBoy Tropical Maladay Caché The Squid & the Whale Batman Begins
Pretty much any scene on Skull Island, but lets throw some emphases on the giant bug scene. Step one: find live octopus. Step two: put live octopus to mouth. Step three: bite into live octopus' skull cavity. Anytime you got yrself a talking monkey, you know you have a damn good film. And he's subtitled even. No chickens were harmed in the making of...well, okay, maybe just that one, but did he ever taste good on a stick. I suppose the name gives away the ending, but it is a sight to behold at the museum. Kind of obvious, but the bats rushing out of that cave was still a phenominal effect.
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LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
THE BIG ANIMAL * DOGVILLE * ALEXANDER * GARDEN STATE * KILL BILL, VOL 2
SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING

BEST (or most) DISTURBING SCENE
Ma mère OldBoy Caché Jarhead King Kong Sin City
It's hot because Isabelle Huppert is involved, but we gotta remember this is a mother & son going at it here. Which scene is most disturbing? Eating the live octopus? The teeth-smashing allusions? The cutting out of his own damn tongue? Majid slices his own throat, and does it in the most nonchalant way imaginable. Those dead bodies, frozen in the amber of radioactive plaster was just eerie as all Hell. The entire giant bug scene in general, but especially those ugly meat weasel thingees. Kevin gets eaten up by his own dog. How much of a bummer would that be?
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LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
KILL BILL, VOL 2 * MARIA FULL OF GRACE * BIRTH * ANATOMY OF HELL * HOTEL RWANDA
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

BEST OPENING SCENE
The New World A History of Violence Pride & Prejudice Caché The Constant Gardener 2046
Wagner and the ships roll in to a new world. We see the very face of evil. The camera follows our heroine through the twisting corridors of olde England. Is it live, or is it Memorex? Newly widowed shock. Ominous foreboding lends to the story of lost love and despair.
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LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
BROWN BUNNY * BIRTH * NOTRE MUSIQUE * CLOSER * BLISSFULLY YOURS
THE TIME OF THE WOLF

BEST CLOSING SCENE
Paradise Now A History of Violence Brokeback Mountain Caché Ma Mère The New World
Will he or won't he. Ambiguity at its finest. Tragic. Heart crushing. Devestating. Haneke just loves to fuck with us, doesn't he? Like the book, unfinished and abrupt. Wagner again, this time with a booming sense of grief.
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Runners-up: My Summer of Love * King Kong * The Constant Gardener

Honourable Mentions: 5x2 * The Squid & the Whale * 2046 * Match Point * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
LAST YEAR'S NOMINEES:
DOGVILLE * HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS * 29 PALMS * BEFORE SUNSET * THE RETURN
DAWN OF THE DEAD

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