A year or two ago a journo pally confided a belief that Barack Obama has an assistant who assembles a best of the year list, and that he just signs off. Okay, maybe, but what’s preventing Barack from catching the same films that everyone else is seeing and having some opinions?

I was a little taken aback by his top five — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Beanpole, Bacarau, Nomadland and Soul. (Nomadland is the only accessible goodie.) And placing Lovers Rock in sixth place under “Movies” means that unlike the view of Amazon management, Barack doesn’t regard Steve McQueen‘s “Small Axe” films as TV-level efforts.

How could he have left Mangrove off his list — maybe he hasn’t seen it? But at least he understands (as I do) that Alexander Nanu‘s Collective is one of the year’s finest.