Above: Soviet poster for The Ghost That Never Returns (Abram Room, Soviet Union, 1929). Designed by the Sternberg Brothers.
Have you seen what’s playing on MUBI lately? Many of you who read my column may not often partake of the best of what MUBI has to offer, which is a beautifully curated, constantly changing selection of films which amounts to a top-notch repertory cinema on your laptop and in your living room. Now that MUBI is on the Roku app too there is even more reason to subscribe to the best film streaming deal on the internet. I know, I know, there is always too much to see and too little time, but for me what elevates MUBI over other streaming services—and I’m not just saying this because I write for them—is the 30-day model which offers you a new surprise every morning as well as the much-needed impetus to actually watch the films as they tick towards their expiry date.
So, as further introduction to what MUBI has on offer right now, I thought it would be useful to collect the posters for all the films that are currently playing as of today in the US, since that's where I am (MUBI's curated lineup differs from country to country). There are some beauties, most especially the Stenberg Brothers’ poster, above, for Abram Room’s 1929 The Ghost That Never Returns—a film described as “Soviet silent cinema at its absolute peak” about “a lonely and insecure individual who is challenged to act more heroically than he is prepared to, but who constantly questions his confidence and loyalties.” If that doesn’t sound like a film for our times I don’t know what does. And you have seven days left to watch it.
If any of these posters make you want to see the film and you are not yet subscribed to MUBI, you can sign up a free 7-day trial here.
Above: French poster for Americano (Mathieu Demy, France, 2011) and festival poster for Bad Day To Go Fishing (Álvaro Brechner, Spain, 2009).
Above: US one sheets for Pit Stop (Jack Hill, USA, 1967) and Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (Jack Hill, USA, 1967).
Above: US one sheet for The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, USA, 1980).
Above: UK quad for The Red And The White (Miklós Jancsó, Hungary, 1967). Design by Peter Strausfeld.
Above: US poster for Ok, Good (Daniel Martinico, USA, 2012). Design by Adrian Kolarczyk.
Above: French posters for Préjudice (Antoine Cuypers, Belgium, 2015), Parisienne (Danielle Arbid, France, 2015), Les Ogres (Léa Fehner, France, 2015) and A Decent Man (Emmanuel Finkiel, France, 2015).
Above: UK quads for Exhibition (Joanna Hogg, UK, 2013) and Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, UK, 2007).
Above: Posters for Elegy To The Visitor From The Revolution (Lav Diaz, Philippines, 2011) and Little Feet (Alexandre Rockwell, USA, 2013).
Above: French poster for Triple Agent (Éric Rohmer, France, 2004).
Above: Dutch poster for Sister (Ursula Meier, Switzerland, 2012).
Above: Argentinean poster for Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1963).
Above: Posters for The Happiness Of The Katakuris (Takashi Miike, Japan, 2001) and The Neon Bible (Terence Davies, UK, 1995).
Above: A Hard Day (Kim Seong-Hun, South Korea, 2014).
Above: Land Of Madness (Luc Moullet, France, 2009).
Above: The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor And Humanity (Kinji Fukasaku, Japan, 1973).
Note that the first four parts of Fukasaku’s Yakuza Papers series are all currently playing on MUBI.
Above: Fantastic Planet (René Laloux, France, 1973).
Above: Swedish poster for Scarlet Street (Fritz Lang, USA, 1945).
Above: Polish poster for Death Watch (Bertrand Tavernier, UK, 1980). Designed by Grzegorz Marszalek.
P.S. If Death Watch takes your fancy and you’re reading this on Friday January 27th, you have until midnight to watch it!