Oppenheimer to Past Lives: Barack Obama shares his favourite films from 2023 with no room for Barbie and Killers of the Flower Moon

Former US President Barack Obama has revealed his list of favorite movies from 2023, with the top three films on the list being produced by Higher Ground, the production company founded by him and his wife Michelle Obama.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | December 28, 2023 02:30 PM IST

3 min read

While Cillian Murphy played the lead role in Oppenheimer, Greta Lee portrayed one of the lead characters in Past Lives.

Continuing his annual year-end tradition, former US President Barack Obama has unveiled his list of favourite movies from 2023. Alongside this, he acknowledged the strikes by writers and actors that occurred in Hollywood during the year, expressing admiration for the industry’s resilience in producing outstanding cinema despite the challenges.

Reflecting on the writers and actors strike, Obama remarked, “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.”

He then went on to list his favourite films of the year and wrote, “Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like Rustin, American Symphony, and Leave the World Behind that we were proud to release through @HGMedia. What films did I miss?”

The top three films on Barack Obama’s list for the year – Rustin, Leave the World Behind, and American Symphony – were all produced by Higher Ground, an American production company founded by him and his wife Michelle Obama. While acknowledging a degree of favouritism, Obama admitted that these are “the best films I saw this year”.

He also revealed his “other” favorite movies of the year, including Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, featuring Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer. Additionally, the Ben Affleck-directed movie Air, delving into the origins of the iconic basketball shoe Air Jordan, secured a spot on the list. A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, a film about a woman kidnapping her son from the foster care system, also earned a spot among Obama’s top films of the year.

Also read | Oppenheimer movie review: Christopher Nolan captures the chain reaction when great power falls into great hands

Other notable mentions in Barack Obama’s list included The Holdovers, Blackberry, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Monster, Past Lives, and Polite Society. Widely discussed films of the year, Margot Robbie’s Barbie and Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone’s Killers of the Flower Moon, did not make it onto Obama’s curated list.

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