Another year has come to a close, and many columns later, I do sincerely hope you have taken some enjoyment (or better yet, enlightenment) out of this column which endeavours to examine the ins and outs of poster design; from a laypersons's point of view.
If there is a theme to the selections for this year's 'best posters' (as subjective as that may be) it is about faces, and the faceless. From the satellite anonymity of Zone of Interest, to the splintered minds of Inside and Beau is Afraid, many of the best posters were portraits of the main character, presented in a dreamy surreal fashion. Many of them were nightmares.
Browse the gallery below for the best Key Art of 2023, presented in no particular order.
Design studio Kellerhouse have integrated the blackest of skies into their key art for Zone of Interest.
This darkest night lords over a family in their expansive garden. If you look further, the walls and the barbed wire frames this domestic scene. If you look even closer, two figures on the right hand side are missing their heads. If there is ever a poster that demonstrates the Nietzschean observation: "When you gaze into that abyss, it gazes back, and it tells you what you are," this poster is it.
Master poster artist and designer Akiko Stehrenberger almost always finds a way to get at the heart of the matter when offering a poster. Here given the true crime and courtroom structure of Palm D'Or winner Anatomy of A Fall, she goes with a simple courtroom sketch. However, the way she captures Sandra Hüller's expression of confusion, defiance, obfuscation all in one go is the genius here. Also note the subtle image of a body cradled in her hands. Her husband? Her son? Herself? Well that is what the movie is about, now, isn't it?
I never managed to catch Chinese CGI animated film, Deep Sea 深海 . The poster, that of a girl going to sleep and using the sea as a blanket is so deeply evocative of summer cottages and daydreams. Like the protagonist here in her deep slumber, it is easy to get lost in the turquoise, lavender and golden hues.
The Korean poster for Ari Aster's Beau is Afraid by illustrator Yeon Yeoin captures the films dense and anxious tragicomic horror better than the American official posters for the film. Note the bits of skull fragment, and the curious little porthole windows in Joaquin Phoenix's exploding head.
An abstract rendition of Willem Dafoe's face with manifestations of various emotional states (or demons) busting out from under the skin, the design for one-man thriller, Inside, is of a piece with the Korean Beau is Afraid, albeit radically different, rendered on textured with oil. This poster acts as a portrait of the main character, an art thief, as well, with the film's card is firmly 'lodged' in his brain, a distinctly Cronenberg-ian 'mental manifesting as physiology.' It is hard to unsee this one.
Another genius of the the form, Greek graphic designer and illustrator Vasilis Marmatakis is mastermind of the key art for Lanthimos' films. Marmatakis' work is provocative, strange, and often strides a curious middle ground between minimal and maximal design.
He created several poster designs for Lanthimos' most ambitious visual provocation yet, Poor Things (all featuring avant-garde depictions of Emma Stone's character), but this one is my favourite.
Long live the Jack Davis-inspired poster aesthetic! The absolutely delightful, thoroughly maximal, Hundreds of Beavers is one of 2023 great cinematic joys, and the poster reflects the a neo-Vaudevillian eagerness to please. Illustrated and designed by Kyle Hilton, it wonderfully captures the madcap cartoon insanity of the film, although it belies the film's silent black and white aesthetic.
Design house riddertoft has been featured in this column several times. Their diverse work on titles such as Triangle of Sadness, Holy Spider, and Another Round, is always exceptional.
Their key art, below, for Milad Alami's immigrant wrestling drama Opponent, a Persian/Swedish/Norwegian co-production, is an eye-catching wad of flesh and emotion. And it does this without showing faces.
Design house Art Machine offered this, a most unusual poster for a major summer blockbuster. It echoes the Job-ian tragedy of the Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, in a way that the folks behind Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 had the utmost confidence in the audience attachment to the loveable, yet rough around the edges, rogues gallery of characters. Particularly a naked, vulnerable Rocket, as he looks in askance beyond the fourth wall, lost and vulnerable. Again, this is an unusual pathos expected for this fare, but on very much on point with the movie.
The wonderful, ubiquitous, Mia Goth starred in the science fiction resort-horror film Infinity Pool. Design house AVPrint did a series of posters for Brandon Cronenberg's disturbing satire of the ultra-wealthy, in ultra-tight closeup with a very high grain. This poster is here entirely for evoking Robert Blake in David Lynch's Lost Highway. Kudos for that.