Friday One Sheet: HOMBRE AL AGUA

The poster for Gael Garcia Bernal's latest film, Hombre Al Agua (aka Man Overboard!) has a retro vibe not seen too much these days. It was designed by the iconic Edel Rodríguez Mola (or simply Mola), who is known for offering striking, surreal, exaggerated, and politically-charged editorial illustrations.

Long painterly strokes form a border, and a crude face with life-preservers as eyes, while the fat hand-drawn title and credits occupy the top, and the credit block is subtly embedded in blue wavy water at the bottom.

The power here is both its simplicity, as well as the fact that it is different from just about everything out there at the moment. It evokes the imagery and style of Polish designer Barbara “Bacha” Baranowska, specifically her work for Milos Forman's Taking Off, or Spielberg's The Sugarland Express in the early 1970s.

The film follows a Cuban lifeguard who saves a Mexican businessman from drowning, and eventually marries his daughter, only to find out there is a larger and more manipulative game at play here. Hombre Al Agua debuts at Venice this week before crossing overseas to TIFF.