The Kids are Alright

 

The Kids are Alright. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

Synopsis:

Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life. 

Design by:?

OK if you were expecting The Who living it up before Keith Moon went to the 'big gig in the sky' then your going to be a bit disappointed. This Kids are Alright is a film about a lesbian couple who have had kids by the same sperm donor and now as the kids come of age they want to find out who their Father is. Just as Inception screamed 'special effects Blockbuster!' this poster screams 'Family based Drama!' The colours are bright and fresh, almost summery which is complimented by the image nestled at the bottom of poster enjoying a nice meal outdoors, you just know that there will be highs and lows but essentially it will be all fine by the time the credits roll and you shuffle out into the cold.

The typeface used is Avant Garde Gothic a firm design favourite but one that is more often seen gracing record covers than movie posters. The text is nicely contained in a well defined block with well proportioned sizing of the various typographical elements. All floating it a blue sky. It breaks away from the standard Hollywood formula and as a result feels less heavy. I do find the yellow text a little 'buzzy' and hard to read, especially at smaller point sizes, but who reads all the text on a movie poster anyway!

As we have seen so far there are inevitably variations on the main poster wither it's more actor focused or gives the viewer an expanded view of the film. With this release there s only one other poster that looks like it was only constructed to hold all the nomination credits and gongs. it falls way of the mark set by the original and is the kind of poster that has me looking for the door! 

 

The large blocks of colour interspersed with head shots and over sized quotes  just makes me shiver. This poster holds more stars than most constellations while that lovely constructed block of text is squeezed mercilessly into one corner. When I look at it, it makes me think I've just lost at a game of celebrity Tetris which is never a good thing. 

The French version isn't much better either, it falls well into the usual approach for 'domestic blockbusters such as L.O.L., again lost is the nice fresh construction of the original.