It's hard to pick a cinematographer we love more than Roger Deakins. the way he sees cinema is absolutely delightful. There's intense care and maturity with his lens, so it is exciting to hear what his favorite movies might be.

Deakins has always been open about the kinds of films that influence him. I am a huge fan of his blog, where he frequently answers questions about movies. I always find he has interesting answers—like the fact that he's not very into the Golden Age of Hollywood—instead preferring the naturalistic camera styling of Europe in similar centuries.

In fact, when asked about North by Northwest, Deakins wrote,

It looks dated. It was made in 1959 so it would look dated. I no longer find it that entertaining but it is still a wonderful piece of film making. I am not such an admirer of the so-called Hollywood "golden age." The films I grew up with and that stay with me are rarely those of old Hollywood. If you read the pages of this site you will already know some of them. Ivan's Childhood, Le Samurai, Solaris, Army of Shadows, L'Avventura, L'Eclisse, Dr Strangelove, War Game, Sansho the Bailiff, Moby Dick, Throne of Blood, Night and Fog, The Burmese Harp, Le Circle Rouge, Fires on the Plain, Ugetsu, Terra Trema, Rome Open City, The Misfits, Rocco and his Brothers, The Asphalt Jungle, Dersu Usala, Weekend, Out of the Past, In Cold Blood, Stalker, La Jetee, Breathless, Ivan the Terrible, To Live, Yojimbo, The Cranes are Flying, I Vitelloni, Battle of Algiers, Three Brothers, Night of the Hunter, Germany Year Zero, Kanal, The Silence of the Sea, Purple Noon, La Dolce Vita, Le Deuxime Souffle, Ashes and Diamonds, Come and See...

When it comes to movies that inspire him, Deakins wrote:

I'm inspired by so many movies. I watched Tarkovsky's Solaris the other day for the fifteenth time, maybe more. But I love Leone westerns, or Dr Strangelove, or Army of Shadows, A Man Escaped, any Peckinpah film, any film by Zvyagintsev, Kon Ichigawa, Peter Watkins, Kenji Mizoguchi, Fat City, In Cold Blood, Terra Trema, any film by Antonioni.

But what are his favorite movies of all time? 

Once, he handwrote a list of his 10 "Greatest Movies." We compiled it for you to take a look.  

 

What Are Roger Deakins' Favorite Movies? 

  1. The Wild Bunch 
  2. Idi I Smorti (Come and See)
  3. La Dolce Vita 
  4. Dr. Strangelove 
  5. Le Samourai 
  6. Armee Des Ombres
  7. Once Upon a Time in the West 
  8. Rocco and his Brothers 
  9. The Passenger 
  10. Paris, Texas
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