Skander Halim: Still not dead (yet)

In fact, his feature screenwriting debut, Pretty Persuasion, starring Evan Rachel Wood and James Woods (but not, strangely, Woody Harrelson), is "hotly tipped" (per Variety) to be selected for the Dramatic Competition at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. Nevertheless, the Skander Halim Memorial Movie Survey -- known amongst participating nerds as The Skandies -- is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. This is notable primarily because it means that I am almost unbelievably old.

Back in 1995, this dorky project was conceived as a sort of elitist alternative to the now-defunct Rammies, an annual poll conducted on the now-effectively-defunct USENET group rec.arts.movies.current-films. Anybody could vote in the Rammies, including folks who'd seen like ten movies all year, so the results were always disappointingly AMPAS-esque, bland and predictable. I decided to gather a select group of the more discerning regulars -- Bryant Frazer, Charles François, Scott Renshaw, Charles Odell, Dave Cowen, Adam Villani, Eric C. Johnson, James Callan (then James Meek), Peter Reiher, and a few other folks, including the dude who would later become Moriarty on Ain't It Hyperactive News -- and see whether we couldn't do better. That David Morse managed to score a Best Actor nomination for The Crossing Guard suggested that I was on the right track. (You'll find Mr. Morse cited for an even more obscure film below.)

The following year, I switched from a simple Oscar-style format -- vote for your favorite of these five nominees, etc., ho-hum -- to a ridiculously complicated point-based system that I ripped off wholesale from the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop music survey. I also started adding participants, swelling the ranks with creepy Greeks, Godless pinkos, Pinochet-admiring lunatics, aspiring French dandies, and other assorted riffraff. We are now 40 strong, including the not-yet-late Mr. Halim. How the survey wound up bearing his name is a tale much too retarded to recount. Let's just say that it's a bad idea to piss me off.

For years, Alex Fung maintained the Skandie results on his invaluable site, alongside a scrupulous précis of the awards bestowed by a small galaxy of other bodies. After nearly two years of dormancy, however, I think the time has come to accept that Alex has retired, though he remains an active Skandie voter. (You can still find results for past years here). So for those of you who never saw them, here, better late than never, are the results from 2003. Which will shortly be contested in the comments by a certain somebody who neglected to get his ballot in on time, mais tant pis pour lui.

(Parentheticals indicate number of points/number of votes.)


BEST PICTURE

01. Irreversible (277/21)
02. Kill Bill Vol. 1 (270/18)
03. Capturing the Friedmans (247/18)
04. Gerry (183/13)
05. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (182/15)
06. The Son (168/15)
07. The Secret Lives of Dentists (141/13)
08. Lost in Translation (128/12)
09. The School of Rock (114/13)
10. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (94/10)
11. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara (73/7)
12. Pistol Opera (72/4)
13. Finding Nemo (70/8)
14. Friday Night (67/9)
15. All the Real Girls (66/5)
16. Bad Santa (64/9)
17. Down With Love (63/9)
18. The Good Thief (57/6)
19. Bus 174 (55/7)
20. American Splendor (55/6)

BEST DIRECTOR

01. Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (359/25)
02. Gaspar Noé, Irreversible (302/23)
03. Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (191/14)
04. Gus Van Sant, Gerry (185/15)
05. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, The Son (167/14)
06. Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation (133/14)
07. Robert Altman, The Company (126/12)
08. Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (126/11)
09. Andrew Jarecki, Capturing the Friedmans (111/9)
10. Seijun Suzuki, Pistol Opera (111/8)
11. Claire Denis, Friday Night (102/11)
12. Alan Rudolph, The Secret Lives of Dentists (86/10)
13. Richard Linklater, The School of Rock (81/8)
14. Olivier Assayas, demonlover (79/8)
15. Guy Maddin, Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary (78/10)
16. Fernando Meirelles, City of God (78/8)
17. David Gordon Green, All the Real Girls (71/8)
18. Gus Van Sant, Elephant (70/7)
19. Lukas Moodysson, Lilya 4-Ever (63/5)
20. Hou Hsiao-hsien, Millennium Mambo (59/6)

BEST ACTRESS

01. Uma Thurman, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (407/27)
02. Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation (247/27)
03. Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls (235/18)
04. Oksana Akinshina, Lilya 4-Ever (234/19)
05. Charlize Theron, Monster (185/14)
06. Monica Bellucci, Irreversible (172/15)
07. Renée Zellweger, Down With Love (126/13)
08. Valérie Lemercier, Friday Night (125/15)
09. Connie Nielsen, demonlover (112/11)
10. Charlotte Rampling, Swimming Pool (110/11)
11. Marina de Van, In My Skin (109/9)
12. Naomi Watts, 21 Grams (91/11)
13. Jamie Lee Curtis, Freaky Friday (80/7)
14. Evan Rachel Wood, Thirteen (76/7)
15. Scarlett Johansson, Girl With a Pearl Earring (74/8)
16. Samantha Morton, In America (70/9)
17. Shu Qi, Millennium Mambo (70/5)
18. Rachida Brakni, Chaos (66/4)
19. Guey Lun-mei, Blue Gate Crossing (61/5)
20. Jennifer Connelly, House of Sand and Fog (60/6)

BEST ACTOR

01. Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (386/27)
02. Bill Murray, Lost in Translation (305/26)
03. Olivier Gourmet, The Son (265/21)
04. Jack Black, The School of Rock (246/21)
05. Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa (234/22)
06. Campbell Scott, The Secret Lives of Dentists (232/18)
07. Paul Giamatti, American Splendor (178/16)
08. George Clooney, Intolerable Cruelty (158/16)
09. Russell Crowe, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (110/10)
10. Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog (94/10)
11. Nick Nolte, The Good Thief (91/10)
12. Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent (82/8)
13. Ewan McGregor, Down With Love (81/12)
14. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dirty Pretty Things (81/9)
15. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Owning Mahowney (78/10)
16. Martin Compston, Sweet Sixteen (67/9)
17. Sean Penn, 21 Grams (66/5)
18. Bruce Campbell, Bubba Ho-tep (63/7)
19. Sean Penn, Mystic River (61/5)
20. Kurt Russell, Dark Blue (57/6)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

01. Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass (368/24)
02. Paul Bettany, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (157/16)
03. Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (155/14)
04. David Hyde Pierce, Down With Love (136/10)
05. Albert Dupontel, Irreversible (106/11)
06. Tim Robbins, Mystic River (95/9)
07. Johnny Depp, Once Upon a Time in Mexico (93/7)
08. Alec Baldwin, The Cooler (88/10)
09. David Morse, The Slaughter Rule (87/6)
10. Kevin Bacon, Mystic River (78/10)
11. John Hurt, Owning Mahowney (77/7)
12. Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind (75/7)
13. Benicio Del Toro, 21 Grams (69/9)
14. Sonny Chiba, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (63/6)
15. Brendan Gleeson, 28 Days Later (62/5)
16. Bill Nighy, Love Actually (58/5)
17. Robert Duvall, Open Range (55/5)
18. Geoffrey Rush, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (55/4)
19. Malcolm McDowell, The Company (54/6)
20. Bobby Cannavale, The Station Agent (50/6)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

01. Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain (184/16)
02. Hope Davis, The Secret Lives of Dentists (147/12)
03. Hope Davis, American Splendor (141/14)
04. Lucy Liu, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (138/15)
05. Alison Lohman, Matchstick Men (127/11)
06. Catherine O'Hara, A Mighty Wind (122/10)
07. Ellen DeGeneres, Finding Nemo (112/11)
08. Joan Cusack, The School of Rock (111/10)
09. Miranda Richardson, Spider (107/9)
10. Patricia Clarkson, The Station Agent (99/13)
11. Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog (91/7)
12. Nutsa Kukhianidze, The Good Thief (87/7)
13. Holly Hunter, Thirteen (86/8)
14. Ludivine Sagnier, Swimming Pool (83/9)
15. Sarah Bolger, In America (83/5)
16. Marcia Gay Harden, Mystic River (76/8)
16. Christina Ricci, Monster (76/8)
18. Melissa Leo, 21 Grams (65/8)
19. Judy Marte, Raising Victor Vargas (63/7)
20. Emma Thompson, Love Actually (62/7)

BEST SCREENPLAY

01. Craig Lucas, The Secret Lives of Dentists (321/18)
02. Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (216/17)
03. Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, American Splendor (154/17)
04. Billy Ray, Shattered Glass (132/13)
05. Peter Jackson et al., The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (132/10)
06. Peter Weir & John Collee, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (129/15)
07. Eve Ahlert & Dennis Drake, Down With Love (124/15)
08. Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, Bad Santa (124/14)
09. Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation (119/12)
10. Mike White, The School of Rock (116/13)
11. Andrew Stanton et al., Finding Nemo (110/10)
12. Aki Kaurismäki, The Man Without a Past (108/8)
13. David Gordon Green, All the Real Girls (84/7)
14. Bráulio Montovani, City of God (76/8)
15. Brian Helgeland, Mystic River (71/9)
16. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, The Son (71/6)
17. Neil Jordan, The Good Thief (68/6)
18. Neil LaBute, The Shape of Things (58/6)
18. Gaspar Noé, Irreversible (58/6)
20. Peter Sollett, Raising Victor Vargas (57/6)

BEST SCENE

01. Rock-marooned, Gerry (176/14)
02. Into the Rectum, Irreversible (170/13)
03. Karaoke night, Lost in Translation (109/12)
04. Rainstorm pas de deux, The Company (108/8)
05. Tunnel assault, Irreversible (91/6)
06. Esther's business dinner, In My Skin (82/8)
06. The Bride vs. Vernita Green, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (82/8)
08. Sunrise zombie march, Gerry (81/8)
09. "Here's to Love" (end credits number), Down With Love (75/6)
10. The origin of O-Ren Ishii, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (72/6)
11. Lighting the fires of Gondor, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (67/6)
12. Road accident, Final Destination 2 (66/6)
13. The story so far (Barbara's monologue), Down With Love (61/5)
14. The Bride meets the man from Okinawa, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (58/6)
15. The Bride vs. Go Go Yubari, Kill Bill Vol. 1 (57/6)
16. The parade, Mystic River (55/3)
17. "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" (Town Hall), A Mighty Wind (52/4)
18. Take me to the river, Big Fish (47/5)
19. Opening, Millennium Mambo (46/4)
20. When mastodons attack, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (40/4)