Michael Mann has followed in the footsteps of Martin Scorsese and joined Letterboxd, the social media site that allows cinephiles to log and rate the movies they’ve seen. The “Miami Vice” director quietly made an account and posted his first list, which is titled “14 Favorite Films in no particular order (except Potemkin).” After singling out Sergei Eisenstein’s landmark silent epic “Battleship Potemkin” as his favorite film of all time, he highlighted 13 other films ranging from classic film noir and New Hollywood masterpieces to recent hits like “The Hurt Locker” and “Poor Things.” Mann’s 14 favorite films can be found below.
“Battleship Potemkin” (dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
“Dr. Strangelove” (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“Biutiful” (dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu)
“Raging Bull” (dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Incendies” (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
“Pale Flower” (dir. Masahiro Shinoda)
“L’Atalante” (dir. Jean Vigo)
“The Asphalt Jungle” (dir. John Huston)
“Poor Things” (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
“Apocalypse Now” (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
“The Sweet Smell of Success” (dir. Alexander Mackendrick)
“The Hurt Locker” (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
“Out of the Past” (dir. Jacques Tourneur)
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Mann’s affection for films like “Battleship Potemkin,” “Dr. Strangelove,” and “Apocalypse Now” was well-known due to their inclusion on his past Sight & Sound ballots. But Mann’s Letterboxd list also showed some evolutions in his taste, as the director swapped out previous favorites like “Avatar” and “Citizen Kane” for works like “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Poor Things.”
Mann recently returned to feature filmmaking after an eight year hiatus with 2023’s “Ferrari,” his long-gestating passion project that saw Adam Driver play the Italian racing mogul Enzo Ferrari. Fans might not have to wait nearly as long for Mann’s next film, as he’s planning to re-team with Driver on “Heat 2,” which is expected to begin production later this year.
