Movie Poster of the Week: "The Tree of Life"

As the year winds down, and in anticipation of the film that nearly everyone who cares about movies hopes/believes will be one of the very best films of 2011, I give you this strange new poster for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (the trailer for which was posted on MUBI last week). A vast improvement over the first teaser poster revealed in November (see below) with its overly literal image and its slapdash use of Copperplate type, the new poster nevertheless takes you aback with its initial blast of preciousness. But as you look at it longer that baby’s foot with its cross-hatched wrinkles looks odder and odder. (Maybe it’s just because of today’s date but I swear I see a rough sketch of a Christmas Tree in those lines). And the fingers surrounding it start to look like a forest of trees reaching for the light, reminiscent of many forests in earlier Malick films. And the type is lovely. It remains to be seen whether Fox Searchlight will come up with something more conventional for the release on May 27th.

Next week I’ll be presenting my favorite movie posters of 2010. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.