Make Me Blush: The Most Provocative Movie Posters

I was in Sao Paolo, Brazil and was basking in the sight and sounds of the sprawling metropolis. One of the things that caught my attention was police visibility in the financial-commercial district - police men populating the streets of Paulista Avenue. Boy oh boy! I've truly never seen police men like those: bulky muscle gods with arms the size of a narra trunk and the waist line as small as mine, and I just blush! They looked like they just got off shooting scenes from a porn production. Tee hee. I mean, come on, put them beside our Pinoy-grade policia... and there's just no contest.

But the topic of this post comes from the same place: the subway stations of Sao Paulo. Littered with movie posters and billboards like the one posted above. It made me think.

What if such poster was on display in the billboard garden near Guadalupe Bridge in Edsa? The manangs would be up in arms, right? There would be commotion. There will be congressional hearings. It would be De Lima's fault again!

But just to highlight the contribution of a movie poster in promoting the finished product, here are my most provocative movie posters I have come across, including 3 local flicks - one of them from an awful film maker. By the way, Gabriel Mascaro's "August Winds" (Ventos de Agosto) is a glacial-paced tale about the discovery of a corpse in a slumbering coastal town.

In these movie posters, most provocations are sexual in nature, but some tackle violence. I remember seeing a poster of Alvin Yapan's "An Kubo sa Kawayanan". The picture of this solitary hut ("kubo") excited me no end. It told stories. On the other hand, Tekeoglu's "Extraordinary People" has the same powerful effect - the photo of a cable that transports people from one side of the mountain to the other. Philippine movie posters are less imaginative and more commercial because artsy ones tend to turn off its possible audience.

Here are my 25 most provocative movie posters. What provokes you? What's your list?

Human Centipede 2

Dujardin was in hot water for his poster of "The Player" (Les Infideles).

The culture of rape and coping in Jason Banker's "Felt".

A harrowing tale of 3 British Muslims held and tortured for 3 years in Guantanamo in Mike Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom's quasi-documentary "The Road to Guantanamo".

Shoes and the phallus? Sarah Jessica Parker's movie stands erect with sexual innuendoes.

Nothing Personal (US, 2009)

When too much love drives people crazy in Mani Manserrat Agah's Swedish flick "Us" ("Vi", 2013)

The Tribe (Ukraine, 2014)

The Marriage Manual (Documentary, US, 1970)

Red Wine in the Dark Night (Kuen nan, Thailand, 2015)

Ryan Reynolds naked on a gurney? Isn't that enough provocation?

Delicate Crime (Canada, 2005)

We braved the evening chill one wintry day to watch a retrospective of the so-bad-they're-good films of Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey at the South Bank in London.

Extraordinary People (Turkey, 2015) is a documentary about the people who live in the mountains.

Jane Fonda only has 2 short scenes in Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" but the scene where she learns of her director's untimely death was so potent I had goose bumps. Indeed, there are no small roles for good actors.

Chuck Gutierrez's "Iisa" was memorable. This poster was the opening scene... and one of the most compelling in years.

Derick Cabrido's "Tuos"

College students, drug dealers and bisexual classmates in Roger Avary's "The Rules of Attraction" (US, 2002).

Poonam contorted in various positions to spell out Amit Saxena's 2013 Bollywood hit, "Nasha" about an 18 year old boy falling in love with his 25 year old teacher.