Sandy Powell ❤️ plaid

Powell on the set of "The Irishman"by Cláudio Alves

Some auteurists would have you believe that only directors among filmmakers have a distinctive style, a visual language transversal to all their projects. People like Sandy Powell, one of AMPAS' favorite costume designers, defy this logic. Her films share an aesthetic ethos and her taste is ever-present. Notice, for instance, how Powell has a penchant for saturated contrasting colors and bold patterns, often filling the frame with a cacophony of clashing prints. Her approach is so characteristic, in part, because busy textiles aren't something that normally works on camera.

Too much visual information can often distract the audience, dispersing the focus instead of guiding the eye with careful purpose. Powell, however, is capable of making it all work and her films are always bursting at the seams with complicated motifs, be it moiré silks or paisley wools, sequined brocades or floral cotton. Most of all, Powell loves plaid...

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Atwood vs Powell: Battle of the costuming titans

by Cláudio Alves

Our look back at the cinematic year of 2005 and its Academy Awards continues. This time, we're examining the work of two titanic talents who battled for the Oscar in the Best Costume Design category as they were prone to do. We're talking about the magnificent Colleen Atwood and the sublime Sandy Powell…

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10th Anniversary: The Young Victoria

by Cláudio Alves

It's difficult to follow the Oscar race each year without developing a prejudice against prestige biopics. At times it seems its the genre where creativity goes to die, where formulas thrive and the appearance of respectability is more important than genuine artistic merit. These words are perchance, too harsh, because specific qualities do manage to shine through the baseline of expected mediocrity on numerous occassions. Take The Young Victoria, Jean-Marc Vallée's perfectly serviceable retelling of Queen Victoria's early years and marriage to Prince Albert. Rewatching it ten years after its initial release, the film isn't as despairingly dry as you may have remembered. The Young Victoria is one of Emily Blunt's lesser efforts, but she's luminous nonetheless, bringing a sense of modernity that rubs abrasively against the historical setting. She never convinces as a 19th-century ruler, but that manages to feel more like a feature than a fault. As for Rupert Friend's Albert, he remains a charming romantic ideal, establishing great chemistry with Blunt.

And then, of course, there are Sandy Powell's Oscar-winning costumes…

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Posterized: Emily Blunt

Is Emily Blunt an A List Movie Star or still perpetually "on the verge"? The box office returns for her current thriller Girl on the Train, promoted largely on her name and face alone, suggest the former but bestsellers do come with their own pull.

This perpetual question is aggravating to anyone who has fallen in love with Blunt over the years in any number of movies. Those who have appear to be legion because what's not to love? She can nail drama and she's funny in comedies. She's totally convincing as an action heroine and she's also adept at the movie musical. We've yet to see a genre she can't do.

Let's take a look at Blunt's movies thus far in this week's Posterized. How many have you seen and which are your favorites?

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