In the past four months or so since I last did this, the following on my @movieposterofthday (leave off the last e for elegance) Instagram has more than tripled, which makes this best-of round-up more competitive. Sadly, as is often the case, a lot of my posts were occasioned by the passing of an actor or director, or, in the case of the most popular poster yet, by a composer. The lovely two-color American half sheet for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was posted in honor of Michel Legrand, who passed away in January at 86 just the day after Serbian director Dušan Makavejev, who was also 86 and whose ribald German poster for Sweet Movie also made the top 20. Other passings recognized were Stanley Donen (with a Japanese Funny Face), Nicolas Roeg (a US Performance), and Bruno Ganz (a French Wings of Desire). It’s impossible to tell if people are liking posts for the person or the poster, but I would hope it’s for both. I was happy to see a design of my own make the list: the one sheet for Derek Jarman’s Blue—the first poster I ever designed—though that also was posted to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of Jarman’s death so I take only a small amount of credit.
On a happier note, the wonderful Japanese poster for Naked Lunch was posted for David Cronenberg’s 76th birthday and that put two insect-centric designs in the top 4, along with the poster for Jan Švankmajer’s little-seen latest Insect. And, along with the poster admonishing audiences not to arrive late to Psycho, that also makes two posters featuring the film’s directors in the top 4. Aside from Insect, I was happy to see two other new posters get the love they deserve: Midnight Marauder’s one sheet for Khalik Allah’s Black Mother and Brian Hung’s for Hong Sang-soo’s Hotel by the River. Both masterpieces of monochromatic minimalism.
Another birthday posting was for Alejandro Jodorowsky who turned 90 in February. The Japanese poster for his The Holy Mountain was designed by Masakatsu Ogasawara, who has two posters in the Top 20 along with his collage for Godard’s 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (which also features, in the background, the work of another great designer: Hans Hillmann’s poster for Buñuel’s The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz). Meanwhile, my favorite discovery of this period, posted apropos of nothing other than its wild design, is the Spanish poster for the little-known paranormal thriller Presagio credited to an artist who signs their name “Esc.” If anyone knows more about Esc’s work I’d love to hear it.
So, without further ado, here are the 20 most popular posters on my Instagram to date, presented, as always, in gently descending order of popularity. Actually there are 21 because last December I was posting my favorite posters of every year of the past decade (hence the presence also of Uncle Boonmee, Nebraska and The Girlfriend Experience) and 2010 was a glorious dead heat between Michael Valle’s I Am Love and Neil Kellerhouse’s I’m Still Here.
Above: 1965 US vertical half sheet for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, France, 1964); designer: unknown.
Above: Japanese poster for Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, Canada, 1991); artist: Hajime Sorayama.
Above: US promotional 40″ x 60″ poster for Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1960); designer: unknown.
Above: Festival poster for Insect (Jan Svankmajer, Czech Republic, 2018); designer: unknown.
Above: 1968 Czech poster for Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo, Japan, 1964); artist: Hermina Melicharová.
Above: 1987 Japanese chirashi for The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mexico/USA, 1973); designer: Masakatsu Ogasawara.
Above: 1966 Japanese re-release poster for Funny Face (Stanley Donen, USA, 1957); designer: unknown.
Above: US one sheet for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, 2011); designer: Chris Ware.
Above: Spanish poster for Presagio (Miguel Iglesias, Spain, 1970); artist: “Esc.”
Above: US one sheet for Blue (Derek Jarman, UK, 1993); designer: Adrian Curry.
Above: US one sheet for I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, Italy, 2010); designer: Michael Valle for The Refinery.
Above: US one sheet for I’m Still Here (Casey Affleck, USA, 2010); designer: Neil Kellerhouse.
Above: US 40 x 60 poster for Performance (Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg, UK, 1970); designer: unknown.
Above: German poster for Sweet Movie (Dusan Makavejev, Canada/France, 1974); artist: Sickert & Noss.
Above: US one sheet for Black Mother (Khalik Allah, USA, 2018); designer: Midnight Marauder.
Above: US one sheet for Nebraska (Alexander Payne, USA, 2013); designer: Doug Tomich for BLT Communications.
Above: French grande for Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, West Germany, 1987); artist: Guy Peellaert.
Above: 1975 Czech poster for Duel (Steven Spielberg, USA, 1971); designer: Nadezda Blahova.
Above: US one sheet for Hotel by the River (Hong Sangsoo, S. Korea, 2018); designer: Brian Hung.
Above: 1983 Japanese re-release poster for 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1967); designer: Masakatsu Ogasawara.
Above: US one sheet for The Girlfriend Experience (Steven Soderbergh, USA, 2009); designer: Neil Kellerhouse.
Poster sources are all credited on Instagram and Tumblr. Follow me on either or both.
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