TK

Our annual look back at the year that was—with a focus on four people who found great success in it. Plus, our critics on the 10 best things they watched, saw, listened to, and read.

Where It Hurts

The brutality of 12 Years a Slave made its own director look away, but to call it a movie about slavery—or a movie just about slavery—is, he feels, to miss the point.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in
the Present Tense

Elaine has been surpassed by Selina, the comedian is now an acclaimed dramatic actress, and the nineties were a long time ago.

The Cool in Her

As a novelist who's made it to the innermost sanctum of the literary world, Rachel Kushner willfully stands apart.

No Damn Cliff

Timbaland is back to rule the radio. God, says the producer behind Jay Z's latest, "knows when you deserve something."