Movie Poster: 'Blue Valentine'

Given the way the film has been shafted by the MPAA, I think most of us here at /Film want to take every reasonable opportunity to make sure people know about Blue Valentine, which has been unfairly slapped with a restrictive NC-17 rating. Don't worry: we probably won't have the opportunity for a Tron Legacy level of saturation. For now I'll have to be content with presenting the moody, atmospheric new poster for the film.

Glad to see that The Weinstein Company has put some thought into this one after the godawful poster the company dropped earlier this week for The King's Speech. (A poster that film's director called "a train smash" before insisting that it would be replaced.) This image has a lot of charge — you can sense the emotional current that leads to the sadly controversial scene of intimacy that led to the NC-17.

Maybe it's knowing that aspect that I get a certain vibe off this poster — something I'd call 'gently aggressive.' It's the color and the pose, though I'm sure many will see only a slightly cold depiction of a physical connection. But it's that coldness, a sense of distance, that leads me to get 'gently aggressive' out of this. And, probably just me as well, I sense a kinship to some of the images used to promote David Cronenberg's Crash, like this one.

Blue Valentine will open in limited release on New Year's Eve.

[Yahoo]