Former President Barack Obama may no longer be a world leader, but that doesn’t make him any less of a tastemaker. Every year, movie buffs wait in anticipation of his annual list of his favorite movies of the year. And this year’s list included many movies he produced and some surprising snubs.
In announcing his three best films he saw this year, the former POTUS warned that he is “biased since these movies were produced by Higher Ground,” the production company he owns with former FLOTUS, Michelle.
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Those films included “Rustin,” “Leave The World Behind,” and “American Symphony.”
However, he also paid tribute to film projects he wasn’t a part of, including “The Holdovers,” “Blackberry,” “Oppenheimer,” “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Monster,” “Past Lives,” “Air,” “Polite Society,” and a “Thousand And One.”
As always, on Obama’s favorite film list included films from Black and other diverse filmmakers, including Cord Jefferson — who made his directorial debut with the highly celebrated film “American Fiction.”
However, leaving out this year’s “The Color Purple” feels like a big purple elephant in the room. A few folks have called his decision to leave his buddy Oprah’s re-boot of the critically acclaimed film a snub. But seeing as the film just came out on Christmas, and most of his other picks have been out for much longer — a more generous explanation would be that he simply hasn’t had the chance to see it yet.
Before he does see the new “The Color Purple” film, he should read our coverage of the film first to get the full behind-the-scenes story.
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