"Burn After Reading" Poster

I think that most people who have seen the Burn After Reading poster will inevitably make comparisons to the great Saul Bass, and one of his pieces immediately jumps into my mind, the poster above from One, Two Three, a Billy Wilder comedy set in Berlin during the cold war.

While there are a lot of his other poster designs that have been more readily compared to Burn After Reading's:

The design for One, Two, Three seems closer to the theme of the film - a dark, spy comedy. While Billy Wilder's picture was more than likely more light-hearted, it did touch on some sinister issues, such as Soviet torture and the West's overlooking of Nazi atrocities when it suited them.

Bass' approach has often wrong footed me when watching the films he worked on. His style seems out of sync with the subject matter of The Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murderer. Both were pictures that I expected to be quirky, and instead were surprisingly hard hitting. This is not to say that I am not a fan of his work, but merely that I feel his influence is being used in a far more appropriate setting here on the Cohen brother's latest film.

They have a history of producing excellent posters, including Fargo and No Country For Old Men:

and this new artwork continues a welcome trend. I think it is Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo who voice the theory that you can judge the film by its cover, and to see such care and attention put into something often used merely as a way for distribution firms to invade your subconscious, is a pleasure.

When it comes to the actual design of the poster itself, we again see the attention to detail. The list of actors, guiding our eyes to who we assume must be our key protagonist, as he engages in efforts of subterfuge. While, occupying a vast amount of negative space, is a gun being levelled in his direction - implying that the attempts at clandestine pursuits will draw a violent response. This is great use of graphic design to match the two directors' approach of misdirection from the true meaning of their script. It is the unseen wielder of the pistol that commands the design, and not the comically posed character on the right.