Year Dispactké2004                                                           p. 1



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Dogville by Lars Von Trier
Pure in form is Dogville. Something of a social critique, it speaks not so much of we here in these United States as of the idea of America and the West itself, in theory. Watching this acting ensemble of giants (Kidman, Ben Gazarra, Loren Bacall, Stellan Skarsgard, Chloë Sevigny, James Caan) glide through the invisible conceptual arena is to behold a master tear apart and re-invent the idea of performance arena in cinema. I will hear nothing of the questioning of the sheer brilliance of Dogville. Of course, we are in Dogville. I’m a Von Trier bitch (see below) as should be thou.


Kanye West – “The College Dropout” (Roc-a-Fella)
True-school, spiritual hip-hop. Without a doubt everybody’s a little tired of Kanye’s ubiquitous presence these days, single-handedly the Neptunes of 2004 (ok, maybe Little Jon is). It is not College Dropout’s singles we should judge Kanye by—“All Falls Down,” a social manifesto of sorts, or “Jesus Walks,” surely the only straight up gospel (expletive filled) pop song to hit mass radio (ever?). Or the weird, ol’ school revering Jamie Foxx, Twista, or whomever’s ghetto masterpiece, “Slow Jamz.”

It is the Jay-Z (with J. Ivy!) “Never Let Me Down” along with “Get Em High,” featuring Talib and Common, that are the hip-hop masterpieces. “The New Workout Plan” displays an uncanny understanding of the fine line between Chicago house and old-school hip-hop (electro)—to hilarious effect. Mos Def hadn’t sounded as hot (before The New Danger dropped) as on “Two Words” in years. Yes, the skits are annoying and more than a little bemusing, but if you program them out you are left with one of the oddest, grown-up hip-hop albums in years. Buggin’, Midwestern, and uniquely African-American in ways hip-hop rarely is these days. I spent a good part of the year listening to “Family Business” whenever I missed my family back in Chicago.
Ana Mendieta: Earth, Body, Sculpture and Performance @
Whitney Museum of Art
A museum setting is the worst possible environment in which Mendieta’s work might breathe. A practitioner of “body art”—work formed through a manipulation of the body’s relationship with nature—so much of her work is ethereal and hard to grasp along museum walls. That being said I was taken aback by the aura this Whitney show suggested: body painting, performance pieces with bleeding chickens, transfigured female beards, Mendieta’s naked body in nature “silhouetting” brush, mud and water.Ritualistic Santeria rites in her native Cuba, recreated rape scenes in rural Iowa, feather covered beings across the land. Lots of blood, dirt, fire—tremendously animistic.
The sheer physicality of Ana Mendieta’s work is remarkable, so beyond its time. I have become fascinated with this woman and her work.

Barbershop 2: Back In Business by Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Ice Cube has become ambassador of middle class African-American culture, not Bill Cosby, not Oprah, Will Smith or even August Wilson. Cube. The ghetto, suburbs, our hopes, fears, aspirations, deficiencies—these worlds he fosters explore. An upscale buppie movie must undoubtedly be in the works. His films so hold a mirror up to our culture that it’s uncanny. I wanted to write a piece for the Rail about Barbershop 2 and Dogville and compare and contrast their various views on socialism, American democracy, the nation’s failures and strengths. My editor was like, “Um, Barbershop 2, what?”

Liars – “They Were Wrong, So We Drowned” (Mute)
She is the “girl” and he is “the horse” and this is cut and pasted noise grooves something to do with witches—a Dadaist pop-punk masterpiece. My glorious hallucinatory rock ‘n roll soundtrack. I love the arrogance the Liars showed releasing this type of record—fuck Rolling Stone. Probably my favorite record of the year. Yep, I’m like that.

Before Z by Shannon Plumb @ Anthology Film Archives
A pantomimed teaching-the-alphabet to children experimental silent film short, Shannon Plumb’s Before Z is a romp of acting “physicality.” Her slapstick, recalling the likes of silent film comics Mable Normand and Fatty Arbuckle, is beautifully performed wackiness. In her world C is for Cake, and Chopsticks—pantomimed. L for Late, Look, Lipstick, and Love. R for Row, Read (a letter), Rip (the same letter), and Rewind (through all of the previously filmed scenes, letters, and R action.) S is for Shadow. X for X-rated (as she undresses off-screen, tossing clothes into the frame). Z for Zig-Zag, Zombie, Zipper, and Zzzzzz—she falls asleep. Simple, dear, ingenious, and hilarious, like watching Stan Brakhage direct Buster Keaton for Saturday morning entertainment.
Museum of Modern Art – Manhattan
Entrance fee cost concerns notwithstanding, this re-opening of MoMA in Manhattan after a two-year sabbatical to Queens was momentous, the space impressive. The contemporary wing, a new section, is hype. The film & video “environment” room showing the Eve Sussman Velasquez thing and Warhol’s screen tests oozes with character. And I really dig how the place as a whole seems so aware of space in relation to the art, a welcome perspective. I just floated through the modern painting and sculpture wings “feeling” the space as opposed to actually checking out the art (most of which we’ve all viewed many a time). I’m not gonna lie–I felt a little giddy going through some of the rooms, just major, no way around it. Is it worth $20? Um, I’ll leave that to the choir and the theorists to decide. (I hustled myself in.) It’s free every Friday evening if that’s any consolation.
Chris Rock: Never Scared, HBO special
One of the shrewdest stand-up performances ever done, and funny as hell. Richard Pryor may have more classic, brilliant and gut laughing performances. Maybe Eddie back in the day too. But Chris Rock’s latest HBO show found a way to be funny, raunchy (still), and political (to a mass audience) in ways that very few entities manage. I was in awe of this virtuoso performance, recommended to me by many when it first aired.
Mos Def – The New Danger (Geffen)


A rambling, beautiful mess of a record, and one of my favorites of the year. “Sex, Love, and Money” rhythmically hypnotic. “Life Is Real”, indeed. “Bedstuy Parade & Funeral March,” a ghetto blues rev-up. “Close Edge,” attack-mode progressive lyric slingin’–“Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close---to the streets, to the beach, the bitches, the niggaz, the women, the children, the workers, the killers, the addicts, the dealers, the quiet, the livest, the realest –(And that’s close).” Wasn’t quite sure initially what to make of the hard Black Jack Johnson stuff but it eventually settles into the whole and speaks. I know I’m in the minority but, yep, this is what It (and you know what I’m talking about) was supposed to be like in 2004.
The Incredibles by Brad Bird
Familial drama meets action adventure Bond movie thriller (really) by those folks at Pixar. Not only one of the most entertaining movies of the year but one of the few that truly drew gut laughter from me. The best animation is our psyche wherever it might go.
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Year Dispactké2004                                                           p. 1