10. Only God Forgives
Reviews were very mixed on Only God Forgives, and understandably so. On the one hand, the visuals are incredibly beautiful, with meticulous lighting highlighting the neon colors in such a way that made it one of the most visually stunning things I saw in a theatre all year. On the other hand, the story was all over the place, with characters lacking motivation and plenty of holes in the plot. Fortunately, the promotion for the film was able to capitalize on the visuals and ignore the story.
The above poster is one of the best examples of that. The Taiwanese setting and neon lighting of the film are both translated to the background and text on this one, with a simple image of Ryan Gosling set in the middle. While a bust view of the lead can make for a pretty boring poster sometimes, when that lead is a stoic Gosling, there’s a little more wiggle room than usual. Blending him with the background color mirrors the effect of much of the lighting in the film. It makes for a striking poster, one of the most attention-grabbing of the year.