Steve McQueen’s 10 favourite films of all time
The 21st century has seen fascinating evolutions in the trajectories of political filmmaking, and within that field, one of the most prominent voices belongs to British filmmaker Steve McQueen. Known for his highly acclaimed features like 12 Years a Slave, as well as his work in the documentary genre, McQueen has solidified his status as an essential sociopolitical critic/artist. While his mastery over the medium is evident, McQueen’s examinations of historical power structures have touched audiences worldwide.
Currently, McQueen is working on a World War II feature titled Blitz which was picked up by Apple last June. Although no definitive release schedules have been announced yet, it was reported that the filming began earlier this year. In addition to the early bits of news about Blitz, 2022 also saw the publication of BFI’s highly-anticipated Sight and Sound poll, where McQueen submitted his entries for the greatest films ever made.
While talking about his selections, McQueen talked about his relationship with Andy Warhol’s Couch: “I saw this for the first time when I was about 19, at Goldsmiths. Some guy came with a 16-millimetre projector, and he was projecting it at 18 frames per second. I was mesmerised by this film and the fact that it was just below the rate of your heartbeat, and it was pulsating. It was hypnotising.”
The director highlighted Sergio Leone’s opus – Once Upon a Time in America. He noted: “A film about time and regret. There’s something in Ennio Morricone’s music: it’s such a force in the trajectory of the film. It’s got this wave to it, and it’s beautiful. It’s one of those occasions when I was in a cinema when I lost sense of time, and I was living within the film. It was fantastic. My biggest memory of this film is the kid on the top of the staircase (rather than being with a girl), eating all the cream off the cake. For me, that’s the most beautiful scene in the film.”
McQueen also reflected on the explosive legacy of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. He explained: “I remember seeing it for the first time. My god. It was one of the most exciting things I’d seen. When I saw it, we were living it. A lot of these films I’m mentioning are films from the past. This was a film of the present, in 1989 when I saw it, and it was electrifying. Again, that’s what a film can do as an object, and how it can gauge the temperature or the climate of the moment. It’s even more rare today to see a picture that says something about the here and now.”
Check out the list below.
Steve McQueen’s favourite films:
- The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)
- ZÉRO DE CONDUITE (Jean Vigo, 1933)
- Couch (Andy Warhol, 1966)
- La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939)
- Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
- Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
- Once upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1983)
- Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu, 1953)
- Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen, 1951)
- Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1998)
McQueen’s list contains masterpieces by pioneering auteurs – ranging from Jean Renoir and Yasujirō Ozu to Jean-Luc Godard and Claire Denis. However, the dizzying gem that occupies the top spot is the 1966 work The Battle of Algiers. Regarded as one of the most important films of the decade, Gillo Pontecorvo’s magnum opus exposed the brutality of colonialism and highlighted the importance of resistance.
The director recalled: “This movie is such a great example of what cinema can do. Going beyond entertainment and actually crossing over into the everyday. It became a rallying call for action. It was the last screening I attended at my favourite cinema, the Lumiere in London, before it closed. I remember seeing the owner in the front row swigging back vodka. I was in tears.”
