Having counted down my top 20 albums of the 2010s, I now turn my attention to the top 20 films of the past decade.
I find that with movies even more so than music, my opinions of a work shift over time. So it wasn’t as easy as looking at my top two or three films from the past ten years and weighing them against each other. For some years, a movie I ranked in the bottom half of my top ten has turned out to resonate far more than those I slotted ahead of it at the time.
‘Pidgin English’ is the 13th track on Elvis Costello’s briliant 1982 album Imperial Bedroom. This is an album on which Costello was working at the very peak of his powers, channeling his mad musical visions into addicting cerebral ear candy.
As YouTube commenter Vincent Straziuso writes about this track, “How do you imagine this song pull it out of the ether and write this???”
‘One Man Guy’ is a lovely track from Rufus Wainwright’s 2001 album Poses. It’s a cover of a song Rufus’ dad, Loudon Wainwright III, released on his 1985 album I’m Alright.
There’s a lot going on in this recording, including the twist Rufus’ homosexuality puts on the title. It’s also a loving but sharp-edged nod to a selfish streak in Loudon that didn’t make him the best father all the time. Rufus is joined on this track by his sister Martha on backup vocals.
Meet Me In Montauk 