If my girlfriend would let me, our entire apartment would be covered in retro poster one sheets. It’s a shame that these days a movie poster is closer to a fast food joint’s in-house promotion for a value meal – basically you know what you are getting and you don’t need to think much about it. So when a gorgeous one sheet is released as was the case earlier this week, it’s not only worth gawking at, but it’s also worth the mention.
For years now, the Lionsgate folks have been taking their marketing via poster art seriously and the Orange of the Week goes to their new poster (a replacement of the Saul Bass-inspired teaser that was made ready for Cannes) for Lee Daniel‘s Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire.
Generally, face recognition is the focal point of a traditional one sheet, but I’ve notice that creative liberties are taken when the lead character/actor is an unknown which seems to be the case here. Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the heroine of this trauma drama is a first-timer. I caught the award-winning film back at Sundance and if I’m guessing correctly, the painting looks like some self-portrait art work from counseling/therapy session and might be a representation of how the victim sees herself. To counter-balance this notion we have the orange vest.
Daniels infused his film with a color orange motif in the many “fantasy sequences”. Precious reverts to daydreams to escape her reality, thus when cloaked or draped in the color she feels safe. I hope this is the final version we see until the November release. Kudos to Ignition Print who designed the poster.
