The Nightingale Poster

“When I first saw the trailer for Jennifer Kent’s THE NIGHTINGALE, I think it took me all of three seconds to beg Mondo to let me do a poster for it. I’ve been a great admirer of Jennifer Kent’s brilliant first outing, THE BABADOOK, but this film was something altogether different on about a thousand different levels. The authentically volcanic performances by the film’s central pillars, Aisling Franciosi and Baykali Ganambarr, the visual cues and storytelling by Kent just grabbed me by the leg and pulled me through this remarkable and brutally heartfelt story in a very personal way after spending so many years working on INDEH. It is one of the most powerful and important films about the intimately devastating impact of colonialism I have ever seen... I must have drawn 20 different concepts and finalized at least a half dozen fully executed pieces for this, my enthusiasm was so electric. In the end it came down to this allegory image of Aisling’s character, Clare, and her unbroken gaze sitting there in the wilds of Australia with her baby and that gun as a kind of ruined daguerreotype that captured the most essential heartbeat of the film. By far one of my favorite movies of the year, and happily it’s available everywhere to stream as I write this. Please give it a go if you haven’t seen it yet, and support the tremendous power of independent film at its best.” -Greg Ruth