The film critic Richard Brody continues our annual tradition and awards the best films of 2020, recognizing a year in which Hollywood released few blockbusters. We travel to New Orleans to meet Rickie Lee Jones, whose new memoir, “Last Chance Texaco,” is a testament to the joys and the chaos of a life of travelling that started when she was very young; to our producer, she reads as a modern Huck Finn. And the cultural historian Louis Menand talks about his new work about Cold War America, when the global cultural appeal of the United States began increasing alongside its military and economic might.
The Brody Awards 2021
A New Yorker critic picks 2020’s best films and performances, according to him.
Rickie Lee Jones’s Life on the Road
The pop star’s new memoir explores the joys and the chaos of a life of travelling, which started when she was not far into her teens. She reads as a modern Huck Finn.
Louis Menand on “The Free World”
The staff writer and leading cultural historian on his new work about the postwar years, when the cultural power of the United States emerged alongside its military might.
