The Year in Film: 1996

Best Picture

#1: Fargo (Joel Coen)
#2: Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier)
#3: Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
#4: Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
#5: The English Patient (Anthony Minghella)
#6: Bound (Larry and Andy Wachowski)
#7: Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh)
#8: Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
#9: Lone Star (John Sayles)
#10: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky)

Honorable mentions: Looking for Richard (Al Pacino), Private Confessions (Liv Ullmann), Prisoner of the Mountains (Sergei Bodrov), The People vs. Larry Flynt (Milos Forman), Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton), Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson), Crash (David Cronenberg), Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest), La Promesse (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne), Ponette (Jacques Doillon), When We Were Kings (Leon Gast), Shine (Scott Hicks), Big Night (Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott), Gray’s Anatomy (Steven Soderbergh), A Perfect Candidate (R.J. Cutler and David Van Taylor), The Quiet Room (Rolf de Heer), Get on the Bus (Spike Lee), Scream (Wes Craven), The Crucible (Nicholas Hytner), James and the Giant Peach (Henry Selick), Freeway (Matthew Bright), Crime of the Century (Mark Rydell), Mission: Impossible (Brian De Palma), Chaplin’s Goliath (Kevin Macdonald), and Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe).

Best Director #1: Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) #2: Joel Coen (Fargo) #3: Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves) #4: Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies) #5: Larry and Andy Wachowski (Bound)

Best Actor #1: Geoffrey Rush (Shine) #2: William H. Macy (Fargo) #3: Timothy Spall (Secrets & Lies) #4: Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) #5: Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient)

Best Actress #1: Frances McDormand (Fargo) #2: Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves) #3: Brenda Blethyn (Secrets & Lies) #4: Kristen Scott Thomas (The English Patient) #5: Debbie Reynolds (Mother)

Best Supporting Actor #1: Derek Jacobi (Hamlet) #2: Steve Buscemi (Fargo) #3: Armin Mueller-Stahl (Shine) #4: Edward Norton (Primal Fear) #5: Willem Dafoe (The English Patient)

Best Supporting Actress #1: Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) #2: Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) #3: Joan Allen (The Crucible) #4: Julie Christie (Hamlet) #5: Katrin Cartlidge (Breaking the Waves)

Best Original Screenplay #1: Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen) #2: Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh) #3: Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier) #4: Welcome to the Dollhouse (Todd Solondz) #5: Shine (Jan Sardi)

Best Adapted Screenplay #1: The English Patient (Anthony Minghella) #2: Trainspotting (John Hodge) #3: Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton) #4: Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) #5: The Crucible (Arthur Miller)

Best Cinematography #1: John Seale (The English Patient) #2: Roger Deakins (Fargo) #3: Robby Muller (Breaking the Waves) #4: Chris Menges (Michael Collins) #5: Bill Pope (Bound)

Best Film Editing #1: Fargo #2: The English Patient #3: Breaking the Waves #4: Trainspotting #5: Bound

Best Original Score #1: Fargo (Carter Burwell) #2: The English Patient (Gabriel Yared) #3: Shine (David Hirschfelder) #4: Secrets & Lies () #5: Hamlet (Patrick Doyle)

Best Original Song #1: “You Must Love Me” (Evita) #2: “I’ve Finally Found Someone” (The Mirror Has Two Faces) #3: “Because You Loved Me” (Up Close and Personal) #4: “For the First Time” (One Fine Day) #5: “Someday” (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Best Production Design #1: Hamlet #2: The English Patient #3: William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet #4: Evita #5: Bound

Best Costume Design #1: Hamlet #2: The English Patient #3: Fargo #4: The Portrait of a Lady #5: Bound

Best Makeup #1: The English Patient #2: The Nutty Professor #3: Trainspotting #4: Star Trek: First Contact #5: Fargo

Best Sound #1: Twister #2: The English Patient #3: Eraser #4: Fargo #5: Mission: Impossible

Best Visual Effects #1: Twister #2: Dragenheart #3: Eraser #4: The English Patient #5: The Nutty Professor

–The Honorary Awards–

Best Breakthrough Performance – Male Edward Norton (Primal Fear)

Best Breakthrough Performance – Female Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves)

Best First Feature Larry and Andy Wachowski (Bound)

Worst Film of the Year Jack (dir: Francis Ford Coppola)