Film Preview: Serena (2015)

Poster

Poster #1

Additional posters can be found below.

Trailer Link

Release Date:

March 27, 2015

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “In Depression-era North Carolina, the future of George Pemberton’s timber empire becomes complicated when it is learned that his wife, Serena, cannot bear children.”

Poster: C+ / C (2) / B-

Review: (#1) Strange that this week, I’m reviewing two posters designs that are identical in composition. Look at Poster #1 for The Homseman and then look at this first poster and you’ll see what I mean. Male lead stoickly looking into the distance, female lead looking towards the foreground or short distance with a tiny inset image in the lower left quadrant that’s almost a silhouette but has faint coloring to it. Even the cloudy sunrise/sunset are the same. (#2-#3) Unnecessary character posters designed to sell posters to fans of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper using the core poster’s individual positioning and relative visual glance direction.

(#4) A gentle, traditional design that doesn’t break ground, nor does it inspire distaste.

Trailer: C-

Review: If there was a more generic-looking Oscar-friendly movie starring two appealing young actors I’m not sure what it is. The beats of the trailer, the faux rise and fall of action and the suggestion of impropriety only serve to make the audience less enamored than they probably aren’t were.

Oscar Prospects:

The cast involved should have meant a big Oscar push, but this long gestating film has secured an early 2015 release, meaning it probably wasn’t as good and Oscar-caliber as it looked on paper.