Friday, October 10, 2008

Christopher Brand @ Rodrigo Corral Design: Salo



From the Criterion Collection, the DVD cover and sample booklet pages. From Criterion:
"Pier Paolo Pasolini’s notorious final film, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975), has been called nauseating, shocking, depraved, pornographic . . . it’s also a masterpiece. The controversial poet, novelist, and filmmaker’s transposition of the Marquis de Sade’s 18th-century opus of torture and degradation to 1944 Fascist Italy remains one of the most passionately debated films of all time, a thought-provoking inquiry into the political, social, and sexual dynamics that define the world we live in."

The cover shows a still from the film, and I love how simple and effective the type is - and how powerfully it relates to the image. The repeated tick marks look like cuts, or lashes of the whip, and the type is cold, sophisticated, and merciless.

Incidentally, the director was brutally murdered when he was repeatedly mowed down by his own car. The killer was never found, even though a hustler first confessed and then retracted his confession.

3 comments:

Gould said...

I've seen this movie once and won't need to see it again. Kind of movie that leaves scars.

Nice design but cannot help thinking Criterion's design were better before they decided to switche to that useless logo.

Ian Koviak said...

Yeah, I love this cover. Can only imagine what the movie is like. I did not know Rodrigo did this. It is very brilliant, disturbing and simple in it's communication of the films implied emotional effect.

Gould said...

The movie is anything but emotional. It's purely visceral and intellectual.