The favorite films of the Oscar-winning Mexican screenwriter, director, and producer Alfonso Cuarón – unquestionably, one of the most talented filmmakers working in Hollywood today – are examined below. Over the past two decades, Cuarón has directed and released a diverse number of films to international acclaim, including A Little Princess (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Children of Men (2006), Gravity (2013), and, most recently, Roma (2018). Roma, which is set in Cuarón’s hometown of Mexico City in the 1970s, has been labeled as the director’s most personal film to date, and will see its theatrical release on December 14, 2018. The film is being hailed as the greatest film of the year by numerous publications and was recently listed in fellow Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s top-5 favorite films of all time.
For more information on any of the films below, click on the associated image (via Amazon).
Cuarón’s Influences & Favorite Films
Lost in Space: The Complete Series
Gilligan’s Island: The Complete Series
During a 2014 interview with Variety, Cuarón stated that during film school, “I was in love with Coppola, Spielberg and Scorsese, and films from the 1950s, plus Billy Wilder, Lubitsch and John Ford.” Similarly, during a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Cuarón stated that in addition to the foregoing filmmakers, he admires the work of Bresson, Murnau, Tanner, and Kubrick. The following list is a selection of notable films from these filmmakers.
Mean Streets
In a subsequent post, we examined the favorite films of director Martin Scorsese: Martin Scorsese – Favorite Films
Stagecoach – The Original John Wayne Classic
Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000
(Sources: McClatchy Tribune, Barry Koltnow (2013); 2014 Reddit AMA; Variety, Tim Gray (2014); The New York Times, Charles McGrath (2014)).
If you are unfamiliar with any of Cuarón’s films, we strongly recommend checking out the following:
