Top 15 Posters Of 2009

Posters have a lot of influential power over the average movie-goer. They may seem like an auxiliary and irrelevant component of the film industry, but they are there to sell tickets and they have much more power than you may have ever thought about. While of course we all follow the film world closely and know what is good and what is not before we head to the theater, a large portion of the general public goes to the theater and chooses what movies they are going to see based on the posters themselves. A film with a great poster will definitely pull in more tickets than a film with a bad poster. Surely you’ve found yourself walking past a row of posters and one catches your eye and you just stop immediately and stare at it. These are the kind of posters that effectively draw in audiences.

A good poster designer will put subtle hints to the tone or theme of the movie in the poster. The kind of thing that will give audiences that ‘A-Ha!’ moment after they watch it instead of just an image of an actor and the title. 2009 was a really great year for posters and we’ve gathered what we think are the top 15 posters of the year. Let us know your favorites or your own picks in the comments!

Note: The posters are not ranked and are in no particular order. If we have a review for the film, clicking the title of the film will open the review in a new window.

Moon

An out-of-no-where beautiful sci-fi film like Moon definitely deserves a stunning poster to compliment its achievement in making a quality low budget film to rival any big studio blockbuster. Simplicity is key and Moon capitalizes on exactly that. The large hypnotic spiral design draws you right into the poster, whether you like it or not, and gives you the impression that there is some great source of confusion in the film. The man in the middle, Sam Rockwell, is confused or lost in some way and you don’t know why yet, but like the circles emanating out from the center that continue without cause or end in sight just to get lost in space, Sam Rockwell is lost and alone in his own quest for understanding. The idea that Sam feels like he is spinning, maybe out of control, is conveyed through the spiral design and the complete lack of any real objects besides Sam himself accentuates the fact that he is alone — “950,000 miles from home” alone.

The Girlfriend Experience

Steven Soderbergh’s film is unique, sexy, provocative and shrouded with an feeling of the unknown and the theatrical poster is no different. One of the more unique posters in recent memory, The Girlfriend Experience poster follows no traditional rules and pushes the artistic boundaries. Looking at the poster you can’t decide if you want to focus on Sasha Grey in the background or try to peer into the the very pop-art dots and see what’s behind them. Either way you are drawn into the background and the foreground simultaneously for a great artistic feel. The tag line of “See it with someone you ****” has to be of the more daring and direct lines ever put on a poster. Catching myself staring blankly into this poster, I don’t know what the girlfriend experience is but I know I want to experience it. Now.

Antichrist

The poster for Lars Von Trier‘s dark and violently disturbing nightmare accurately conveys that of the work; something that isn’t so simple to accomplish. The rage, delusion, passion and horror that fills the film is properly accounted for here. From the unsettling childlike hand-painting of the titles to the edge of Willem Dafoe‘s asscrack, there is no comfort. A feeling you won’t find in any one of the 104 minutes that make up the film either.

Drag Me To Hell

A throw back to the genre that he pioneered, the poster for Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell is a fierce and raw image of Christine Brown being ultimately pulled into hell against her will. Distancing itself from the horror genre that’s been developed lately, there are no weapons of pain or torture in view nor is there even a look of terror on her face. This is the look of an angry and empowered woman — not a helpless, soon-to-be-dead, mal-equipped with brains but fully equipped with breasts horror victim. You get the impression she’s been running from this unseen multi-armed hell beast for a while and she’s fighting until the very last second. She’ll be damned if she’s gonna let herself be dragged to hell — and well, she’s right one way or another. “Christine Brown has a good job, a great boyfriend, and a bright future,” the tag line sets up to a harmless and hopeful lead. Only to crush our optimism with, “[b]ut in three days, she’s going to hell.” Anyone can go to hell it says. Even that harmless sweet girl that works at the bank. Even you.

District 9

The poster for sci-fi blockbuster breathe of fresh air District 9 came out long before much detail as to the specifics of the film had been released. A long stream of viral teaser releases built up quite a bit of anticipation and curiosity about District 9 and the poster was responsible for a lot of that hype. The photo-realistic space ship floating over the city in the background gave some hint as to the style and detail they were going to use with the CG and the image of the alien on the target gave an idea to tone of the story. Revealing enough to identify and not nearly enough to explain, the District 9 poster was a great example of building hype by keeping much of the details of the film unknown.

Precious

Painted with broad strokes, the Precious poster says that Precious’s problems are not her own. The indescript black female figure says that she is every black woman. Coming from the inner city there wasn’t really an opportunity for Precious to make her own way. Only the way that was given to her. Artistic, subtle and understated the Precious poster looks past the surface of its heroine and looks into her soul. Standing tall and hands held solemnly ready for whatever is to come, Precious is steadfast and waiting. Immovable.

Up In The Air

Taken from a reflective scene later in the film, the poster for Reitman‘s third film paints a resounding portrait of isolation amongst the main characters. The silhouettes of Kendrick, Clooney and Farmiga lost in a sea of grids highlight the quarantined nature of their lives; explored to great lengths in the film. The classic Saul Bass nod also compliments Clooney’s throwback performance that could be found in many of the films Bass constructed posters for.

(500) Days Of Summer

Tom Hansen, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, positioned right below a cloud of chaotic photos thrown about in different shapes, sizes and positions plays out like a stream of thought — a look into the love scarred mind of Tom. When you think back on times in your life of extreme passion, you usually can’t remember it all too clearly. It seems more unreal as if it didn’t really happen to you; you are merely thumbing quickly through a photo flip book of memories that are sometimes short, incomplete and jarring. Tom couldn’t really explain why he loved Summer. He just knew that he did without question. Are there 500 photos of Summer in the collage? It’s kind of hard to tell but it definitely gives that impression. Perfectly encapsulating the untethered and chaotic time line as well as the core theme of being overwhelmed that saturates the film, the (500) Days of Summer poster is one of the best posters of 2009.

Where The Wild Things Are

How do you visually represent the confusion, chaos and turmoil of being a 10-year-old? When you’re a child and your world is not the way you want you have a luxury that most adults lost long ago — the imagination to create your own word to escape to. This was the first poster released for the film and was a kind of subtle teaser poster by cropping out the wild thing’s face. Where The Wild Things Are had an incredible poster advertising campaign and it’s almost hard to say this is the best one. Every single poster deserves a spot on this list. A beautiful and imaginative poster campaign for one of the most beautiful and imaginative films of the year; pushing the audience to go where their inner child is, where the wild things are.

Sin Nombre

A simple but powerful photograph is sometimes all that is needed. Without graphic design, computer graphics or artificial images, the Sin Nombre poster is a reminder that a photograph can be a powerful and moving tool. Riding atop the train trying to escape to America, you see the two main characters: one innocent and obviously alone with a look on her face that is asking for help, and the other deep in thought over either what he has done or what is to come. The mountains in the background and the space above the people in the image shows the grandeur and scope of the journey they are embarking on. An epic, treacherous and life changing journey to a new life. A powerful poster for a powerful film about the trouble, and desire in spite of it, to illegally immigrate from the impoverished lands in Central America to the United States.

Inglourious Basterds

A pleasant and sweet opening with “Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France..,” gently leads you right into the unabashed carnage that is Inglourious Basterds. Take the baseball bat covered in blood holding a bullet riddled Nazi helmet and the Jewish family names etched into the bat and you’ve got one clear and resounding message — Jews kicking the shit out of some Nazi ass. In your face badassery is served with a confident and skilled hand by Quentin Tarantino and this poster says this isn’t your grandfather’s World War II movie.

Food, Inc.

Some posters get straight to the point. With little subtlety and an on-the-nose demeanor, Food, Inc.’s theatrical poster drives home its agenda with a simple but full of impact image — a cow with a barcode on it. A cow with a barcode on it to symbolize the over industrialization and commercialization of the American food industry. Cows, and all the rest of the food we eat for that matter, have completely lost their natural qualities. We need speed and quantity to satisfy our out of control consumption and waste. This poster tells the audience that even animals these days are no different than a box of cereal or a tin of beans — mass manufactured and processed for our consumerist society.

Cold Souls

The premise behind Cold Souls is so perfectly displayed its poster featuring lead Paul Giamatti that you almost wonder which came first — the poster or the film. The originality and quirkiness of the one-of-a-kind screenplay is mirrored perfectly in the poster leaving you with absolutely no clue what it’s about, but still intrigued by the possible symbolic nature of the images. An artistically unique film such as Cold Souls deserves a truly artistically unique poster to compliment it, and the Cold Souls poster succeeds in spades.

Bright Star

The poster for Bright Star is wrought with the same pure love and passion that can be found in the real life love letters exchanged between it’s main characters John Keats and Fanny Brawne. The deep tones and warm colors are beautiful and the focus of the shot draws you right into the passion. Fanny is positioned above John and he is leaning into her in the image; displaying that she is the stronger one and John is the one who needs her. It also symbolizes his dependence on her, his ‘Bright Star’, for his writing and even the strength to live through his illness. The tone of the film is palpable and clearly conveyed in the art of the poster — Love, passion and yearning for another.

Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

The ribbon for one of the craziest and most creative posters I’ve ever seen belongs to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It looks like something right out of a crazy Monty Python film. Wait a second.. Imaginarium of Doctor Parnussus is a Terry Gilliam film. Now it all makes sense. The detail and level of absolute bat shit craziness in this poster is rivaled only by the film itself. A perfect display of the film where Gilliam is getting back to his roots. A beautiful snapshot of the unimaginable maze of ridiculousness that must be the mind of Terry Gilliam.

Did we miss any? What were your favorite of the year?