CriterionCast

Che Artwork Revealed! What Do You Think?

ThemanyfacesofChe

Today, Criterion announced their January 2010 DVD/Blu-Ray releases. Among them was the anticipated 2-part Steven Soderbergh epic: Che. Along with the release dates and prices, they premiered the cover art for the discs.

Was this the best they could come up with? With all of the hundreds of portraits of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and with Criterion’s track record of beautiful cover art, I feel like this not quite up to par. I feel like it’s trying to imitate Shepard Fairey’s art style, with poor results. The single color, along with the poorly defined facial features distort the convincing transformation that Benicio Del Toro went through to become Guevara. I’m not sure exactly what I would have wanted instead.

Here is the classic portrait used by artists around the world:

che-guevara-albertokorda-1950

Here is the Andy Warhol portrait:

CHE_02

Here is the art they decided on using:

496_box_348x490

(is it just me, or does the poor line work on his nose make his face look weird?)

Here are some images of the posters and cover art for the film around the world:

Che_-_El_Argentino_2chepartonebd3d

argentine_ver8_xlgguerilla_ver5_xlg

With this being such an anticipated release, should Criterion reconsider their choice?

Let’s hear what you think in the comments below!

Ryan Gallagher

Ryan is the Editor-In-Chief / Founder of CriterionCast.com, and the host / co-founder / producer of the various podcasts here on the site. You can find his website at RyanGallagher.org, follow him on Twitter (@RyanGallagher), or send him an email: [email protected].

2 comments