Could you imagine if Donald Trump listed his favorite movies? How many times could he list Triumph of the Will?
Fortunately, we have Barack Obama who actually loves movies and is keen to share his favorites every year. Now that he’s a movie producer, an award-winning one at that, some of his picks are self-serving. But at least he can cop to his own biases when naming American Symphony, Rustin, and Leave the World Behind, all films he produced for Netflix through his Higher Ground label.
He tweeted, “I’m biased since these movies were produced by Higher Ground, but these are in fact three of the best films I saw this year.”
Others on Barack Obama’s list include a few favorites of my own, such as the biopic Blackberry, starring Jay Baruchel as founder of the once-popular smartphone device. Also Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, which stars Jeffrey Wright as a frustrated author. Celine Song’s heartbreaking story of romantic destiny Past Lives also found favor with Obama. There’s also Ben Affleck’s Nike Air Jordan drama Air, about the launch of the Michael Jordan shoe line.
Alexander Payne’s holiday dramedy The Holdovers was also on Obama’s list of favorites. He also chose A.V. Rockwell’s acclaimed film A Thousand and One, about a mother who rescues her son from the foster care system and goes on the run.
The highest-grossing movie on Obama’s list is Oppenheimer, a clear contender for the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Polite Society and Anatomy of a Fall were also named. Obama and I share a love for Hirokazu Kore-eda movies, too, and this year he chose Monster among his list of favorites.
A late addition was The Color Purple, which Obama added shortly after seeing it.
The list was preceded by a short message in which Obama acknowledged the writers and actors strike in Hollywood earlier this year.
“Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections. It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better.
Update: I just saw The Color Purple and loved it. I'm adding it to this list as one of my favorite movies of the year.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 28, 2023
