'Decision to Leave' Recognized as Film of the Year by Former President Obama

Every Year-End, Introducing the Movies, Books, and Music One Loved That Year

A scene from the movie "Decision to Leave." Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Former U.S. President Barack Obama named director Park Chan-wook's film Decision To Leave as one of the best movies of 2022.

On the 23rd (local time), former President Obama shared his "Favorite Movies of 2022" list on his Instagram. Every year at the end of the year, he has shared his favorite movies, books, and music of the year on his social media platforms with his followers.

In a post titled "Barack Obama's Favorite Movies Of 2022," he listed 17 films, with Decision To Leave by Park Chan-wook coming in second. In the caption, Obama wrote, "This year, I saw some incredible films. Here are the ones I liked," adding, "What did I miss?"

Park Chan-wook's Decision To Leave was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Critics' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and was also a preliminary nominee for the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best International Feature Film. Earlier in May, Park won the Best Director award at the 75th Cannes International Film Festival for this film.

Other films that former President Obama named as his "Movies of the Year" included Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, Gina Prince-Bythewood's The Woman King, Michelle Yeoh's Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick.

On the same day, former President Obama also revealed his list of 13 favorite books and 25 favorite songs of the year. The first book on the "Books of the Year" list was The Light We Carry, written by his wife Michelle Obama and published last month. Obama joked, "I am a little biased about this." The "Music of the Year" list included American rapper Kendrick Lamar's new song The Heart Part 5, produced using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and Beyonc?'s Break My Soul.

This is not the first time former President Obama has named a Korean film as his favorite movie of the year.

In 2018, he selected director Lee Chang-dong's film Burning as the movie of the year, and in 2019, Bong Joon-ho's film Parasite, which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, was also on his list. Among Obama's "Books of the Year" in 2019 was Pachinko, a novel by Korean-American author Min Jin Lee.