The best posters of 2021

The placement of the text is superbly clean with a classic “artistic horror movie” composition, the 1970s apartment buildings with brutal concrete architecture. Innocents suggests the horror of a childhood in this environment. There is something deeply disturbing about the perfectly straight swing chain. Is it this sublime moment that the kids aim for, a kind of deeply disturbing ecstasy when it is framed upside down.

Exquisite fabric meets existential emptiness in this wonderfully tactile artwork for Pablo Larraín’s biopic Lady Diana, spencer. I could stare at this infinitely melancholy poster for hours; where expensive cream textiles and perfect white skin meet the stark blackness of despair.

The ugly title Preparations to be together for an unknown period of time presents some graphic design challenges due to its unusual length. These challenges were easily met.

The bold lighting from here, the contrast between the white and red linens, the curves and folds of both, and the dark shadow in the top corner all signal mystery, sex, intimacy, and vulnerability. The texture and tactility are there.

The Cannes poster of Paul Verhoeven’s teaser Benedetta is all about tactility: The seams on the hem of the suit, the ivory fabric, the texture of the skin around the eyes and face. Thankfully light on photoshop/airbrush, and with plenty of negative space, and that smooth curve from black to white, this poster makes a beautiful pairing with spencer

The mint green cardigan and pants, the purple fedora, the peach neckerchief, the perfectly ironed white puffy blouse. Note that the sunglasses match the waistcoat and the neckerchief matches the wallpaper. I also love the bejeweled poodle brooch detail. This poster, featuring the iconic Udo Kier in a marvelous outfit, makes you look deeper into his details.

This South Korean poster for Celine Sciamma Little momisn’t as bold as Akiko Stehrenberger’s key art for the director’s previous film, Portrait of a lady on fire. But it echoes the perfectly small mission statement of his intimate new movie, and the key art, or at least the best of it, should be thoughtful and proportionate to the movie it’s advertising.

It’s hard to choose just one Wes Anderson poster The French Dispatchin various key art campaigns that spanned 1.5 years that it took the film to hit theaters.

Indeed, I could not resist presenting three of them here.

This one features Tilda Swinton with an indigenous art-themed dress that matches her hair. Like the actress herself, she is quirky and provocative.

It’s hard to choose just one Wes Anderson poster The French Dispatchin various key art campaigns that spanned 1.5 years that it took the film to hit theaters.

Indeed, I could not resist presenting three of them here.

This one features gorgeous American actor Steven Park in a gloriously ridiculous combination of hair, glasses, chef’s dress, and casual business underneath. The typed menu in the background is the proverbial icing on the cake.

It’s hard to choose just one Wes Anderson poster The French Dispatchin various key art campaigns that spanned 1.5 years that it took the film to hit theaters.

Indeed, I could not resist presenting three of them here.

This one was one of the hand-drawn, short-story-focused pastiches for the best of the film’s segments.

Lots of hand-painted love went into this design for Edgar Wright’s “Hysterical Feminine” thriller, Last night in Soho – where everyone feels like a watercolor ghost.

The hand-drawn aspects of this poster for Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Sublimly Strange Lamb are so subtle that they place all the key art in the eerie space of the valley. Oh, so on the spot with the movie. Enjoy the weirdness here, the movie is even weirder.

The most surreal and terrifying poster of the year returns to Yellow Veil Picture’s rescue slash reissue of George Romero’s “old age” public service announcement, Amusement park reminiscent of the strange Polish school of poster design.

The soft blue gradient almost looks like a hospital setting, and the highlighting of the head injury (supported by the movie character) certainly underlines that. And finally, the slogan, “See you in the park, one day”. is grim and inevitable. We’re all going to get old and it’s going to be horrible.

I am committed to featuring key artwork that makes good use of textured wallpaper (see also swan song. Deliciously tongue-in-cheek by Bent Hamer The middle man has a minimum of one sheet: an unnamed black costume as the singular image, a simple yellow block of text, and a clever but corny tagline (in white) to indicate that, yes, this is a comedy.

Yarn. It’s super cute. And makes me feel all blurry. The glorious hygge of the poster for Werewolves inside cannot be underestimated. Wolf making is a thing here in this cheeky and smart poster.

The pink and blue neo-psychedelic poster of The spine of the night hits some kind of blurred area on an acid atmosphere, with a hint of Krull for this rotoscoped ultra-violent fantasy film.

“Orange & Teal” is coming to China with this key art for Diets in antiquities, with its tea trap and repeating units. It might be a little too much, but it tickled my imagination. Granted, I’m a sucker for orange posters.
The laid-back lean on the “stick” of lead actress Zhilei Xin seals the deal with this one.