I love a good piece of design almost as much as I love a good movie. It only makes sense, then, that a brilliantly designed movie poster is to me a work of art on par with anything I’ve seen in a museum.
The people at the Criterion Collection understand the value of both good films and good design. In designing boxes for their DVD releases of films they have deemed “important,” they strive to create packaging worthy of the content inside. Inspired by a post by Well Medicated’s Andrew Lindstrom, here are 50 of my favorite Criterion boxes.
My criterion (sorry) were as follows: 1) I have to have seen, and enjoyed, the film; 2) I have to like the box art enough to hang it on my walls. This means that outstanding box art for films I did not like or have not seen has been excluded, as has boring box art for films I adored.
Four of the films star Jeanne Moreau, two star Monica Vitti, and two star Giulietta Masina. Certain directors (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jim Jaramusch, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, Michelangelo Antonioni, Akira Kurosawa) pop up more than once. I’m sure there are others I am missing. I may be a snob, but at least I am a loyal one.
