Barack Obama's daughter, Malia Ann, has received some negative reviews over a debut short film that she both wrote and directed.
The 25-year-old showed her 18-minute film, The Heart, at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, which tells the story of a grieving son tasked with an unusual request from his late mother, previously screened at film festivals in Telluride and Chicago, where it received recognition in the best live action short category.
In a "Meet the Artist" video for Sundance, Malia Ann said that her project "is about lost objects and lonely people and forgiveness and regret." She added that it "works hard to uncover where tenderness and closeness can exist in these things."
"We hope that you enjoy the film and that it makes you feel a bit less lonely or at least reminds you not to forget about the people who are," added the former first daughter, who appears to have dropped the surname Obama from her professional sobriquet.
However, on the movie social network Letterboxd, the film has received negative reviews, a number of which appeared to be politically motivated. Newsweek has contacted Malia Ann's movie's producer via email for comment.
"Honoring her father's legacy by dropping a giant bomb and not receiving any criticism for it," said one critic in reference to former President Obama's military strikes while in office.
In the same vein, another reviewer said that they watched the film in the presence of the Obamas in Chicago. The critic added that they "should've turned around and asked Malia's dad what he was doing with those drones in Syria from 2012 to 2015."
Another said that the story had "a lot of great potential," with the film showing "wonderful layers of absurdity and genuine pathos. The visual language striking—great use of light and darkness, strong compositions keep us off-balance."
"If only the short didn't end—like so many shorts these days—on a punchline that seems better suited to a sketch to the emotionally resonant material that came before," the reviewer concluded.
Playing on previous accusations of nepotism, one skipped reviews altogether to ask: "Can you really be a true indie filmmaker if your dad was President?"
Also not focusing on the film at hand, another took aim at Malia Ann's familial wealth and connections.
After stating that they found the film to be "fine," although "a little bit episodic," the Letterboxd user said: "Issue here is honestly that this kid just doesn't get to fail. Your first short film has a shitload of money thrown at it Donald Glover producing and you walk into Sundance....
"Wasn't this a thing for indies back in the day? You should be allowed to be mid when you are learning and I think what rubs people the wrong way is getting to be mid on a national scale. You should have the opportunity to f*** up small scale but I can only imagine we get a Malia Ann (who are you fooling here girl just own it) feature film within two years... Malia I bet you're on Letterboxd reading these so please god your life will be easier if you just own it.
"It is so funny that basically the ambition of our political ruling class is actually just to make FX shows... like girl you could start your own kingdom in Illinois if you so chose."
Last month, The New York Times' Kyle Buchanan described The Heart as "well-shot" and "a promising debut, though there's no juicy allegory here for political pundits to uncover, just a short film about two sad souls.
"You wouldn't even suspect it came from a former first daughter, though in-the-know types might wonder if the 'Steven and Kate' thanked in the closing credits are Spielberg and Capshaw, a husband and wife who can ensure a well-connected debut."
Malia Ann is the eldest daughter of Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama. The Obamas are also parents to 22-year-old Sasha Obama. In May 2016, the White House announced Malia's decision to take a gap year before attending Harvard in fall 2017.
In her teens, the eldest Obama daughter interned on the CBS sci-fi series Extant and HBO hit Girls. Shortly after Obama's presidential term ended in 2017, she landed an internship at the New York City office of the film studio co-founded by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
She worked in the company's production and development department, months before the producer was accused of sexual harassment over three decades.
Malia Ann was also a part of the writing team for Donald Glover's acclaimed Amazon Prime miniseries Swarm.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2023, Glover said of Malia Ann: "She's just like, an amazingly talented person. She's really focused, and she's working really hard. I feel like she's just somebody who's gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
