15 Best Netflix Original Movies You Probably Missed

4. Barry

The Plot: A look at the formative years of Barack Obama (Devon Terrell), as he attends Columbia University in the early 1980s.

A young Barack Obama biopic could so easily go horribly wrong, but thanks to a script that doesn't overplay its hand with relentless nods to its focal figure's future, Barry is a compelling look at the life of a man destined to one day enter the White House.

The real reason it works so well, though, is Terrell's sublime performance, refusing to settle for mere caricature by impersonating Obama's middle-aged vocal register and mannerisms, but appearing to genuinely convey the mindset of an unsure young man coming to grips with the realities of the big wide world, while his own personal shortcomings are laid bare.

Neither an overly doting hagiography nor a speculative trash-piece, Barry captures the essence of young Obama simply as a human being above all else.