5. “Corsage”
Many period dramas in recent years claim to reinvent the wheel and offer a subversive take on the lives of stifled royals making arbitrary rules and bad decisions – but the poster for “Corsage,” irrespective of the film itself, finally has the courage to literalize what many have thought they were doing for years. There is a combination of contempt, boredom, and still somehow a dash of decorum in Vicky Krieps’ eyes as Sissi, the Empress of Austria, but it is, of course, her raised middle finger that epitomizes the sheer guts of this film. Surrounded by praise – from us, further nuisances beyond those she had to deal with during her own era – the only answer, along with perfect posture, immaculate hair, and a tight corset, is defiance. To hell with them all.
4. “The Eternal Daughter”
Joanna Hogg has always offered the epitome of sophistication in her films, from “Archipelago” to “The Souvenir.” “The Eternal Daughter” goes as far as the British filmmaker probably ever will when it comes to genre and horror tendencies, throwing Tilda Swinton into a ghost story that leaves boundless room for interpretation. So it’s thrilling and somewhat surprising that the film’s poster toys with color and illustration, suggesting something more in keeping with the cozy whodunnit series “Only Murders In The Building” than the intentionally opaque arthouse worldbuilding Hogg is known for. Swinton’s face is strikingly illustrated with warm, fluid lines and glow-from-the-inside light, and the title treatment suggests something that’s just more accessible, even maybe playful than Hogg has accustomed us to. A welcome surprise from a constantly shapeshifting filmmaker.
3. “Women Talking”
The discussions of a group of Mennonite women reckoning with severe trauma and abuse are, of course, hard to make alluring – and that’s the point. But BLT Communications lean into the sheer force of Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” with a simple poster design. So much of the film hinges on the loyalty and love between these women, and the close-up of hands holding, each peering out of a different but similar floral patterned dress typical of the women of the colony, captures the white-knuckle determination and the boundless tenderness of the women and girls have for each other. When they win, we all win.
2. “Don’t Worry Darling”
Much has been made of the drama surrounding Olivia Wilde’s suburban dystopia “Don’t Worry Darling,” but it’s hard to deny the film’s aesthetic value. It’s teased elegantly on the film’s more suggestive poster, welcoming the audience into this seemingly perfect world” “welcome to victory.” Palm trees sprout in the hills behind perfect miniature houses, in front of which one couple – he with his slicked back hair in his shiny convertible, she in her (his?) oversized bed shirt and a perfect blow dry – share a kiss against a cloudless sky. The film, as we know, teases a darkness, but it’s a treat to sell the movie with something unquestionably beautiful, aspirational even, like this.
1. “Tár”
There is a soaring motion to a lot of classical music — romantic strings, swooning harmonies, or even jubilant horns — art is always moving. That sensation is captured with breathtaking drama on AV Print’s poster for Todd Field’s “TÁR,” in which Cate Blanchett as the (very much not real) composer Lydia Tár is seen from below, her jutting chest and broad wingspan swallowing the frame whole, with only her chin and her hands furiously conducting the orchestra showing flashes of pink flesh. The black background and imposing title treatment — Blanchett being announced as Tár with little more context than that — hits like a gut punch.