Wired Mesh

Czech This Out

I've started shopping for a classic movie poster to complete the decor of my new apartment. More than anything, I've been impressed by the artwork of Czech poster designers. I have, in fact, become strangely addicted to their drawings and collages: My last hour at work has been spent looking at these posters online.

Now, most American film posters are like film trailers: they are designed as a mass marketing tool, designed to attract the largest number of people to a movie. They try to inspire simple associations in the potential viewer's mind: Ooo, a new John Cusak movie or that looks sexy and scary. The goal is to make the product seem instantly familiar and thus enjoyable.

But these Czech posters seem to be attempting an entirely different advertising project. Most of them are weird photo collages, ink drawings or wood carvings, many of them much odder than the films they pitch. Some of this might be explained by the fact that the poster artists had little idea what the film they were advertising was actually about. However, it seems like many of these posters are trying to allure viewers with the promise of something truly new and exotic, an encounter with the Other. These drawings have the strange mystery of religious iconography. They remind us how much potential for transport exists within the medium of film, and how rarely that potential is harnessed.