Friday One Sheet: TEEN SPIRIT

Even after the Pink Explosion of Key Art in 2017, I still find the colour endearing in all its forms in movie poster design. Case in point is the one sheet for Max Minghella's Teen Spirit, which features a fuchsia glow on the perfect skin of Elle Fanning as she leans in to the microphone in a frozen moment prior to singing for a talent show.

Not featured in the text or imagery of the poster, is the wonderful supporting turn from Danish-Croatian actor Zlatko Burić, who practically steals the movie out from under its headliner Hollywood star. Curiously, both actors are Nicolas Winding Refn veterans. Burić in the Pusher Trilogy and Fanning in The Neon Demon. I wonder what they had to say about the emotional/violent auteur on set of this film, the debut of a first timer.

Speaking of neon, the jauntily slanted glowing titles are both cliche and fresh at the same time. I cannot explain why that it so. Nevertheless, the poster certainly does what it is supposed to do: Highlight your star and promise something worthwhile. The implicit promise made with the key art is that it will stride the cusp of innocence and lurid. This is also reminicent of The Neon Demon.

Teen Spirit is a solid and cinematically astute (if narratively familiar) debut from actor Max Minghella (The Handmaid's Tale, Agora). The key art is another win from my favourite of the major poster design studios, B O N D, who get featured in this column a lot.