Kansas City (1)
This film, set in 1930s Kansas City, features Blondie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the wife of a petty thief named Johnny who gets abducted by a major KC mobster, Seldom Seen (Harry Belafonte). In order to save her husband, Blondie abducts the wife of a prominent politician who is connected to the mob as leverage to free him. Conditions complicate as Blondie and the politician's wife, Carolyn Stilton (Miranda Richardson), befriend each other along the way. The complex dynamics of crime and politics in the city during this time are driven home by the authentic Kansas City Jazz score, which supplements the socio-cultural implications of the film. This poster was designed in a classic 1930s film noir style with graphic, painterly representations of the main actors juxtaposed against one another. Seldom Seen's menacing glare verges on a determined Blondie who holds a pistol. The pistol, perhaps incidentally, points in the direction of Mrs. Stilton, who clutches a bottle containing the supply to her opioid addiction. Scenes from the film, focusing on the jazz musicians that drive its intensity, border the lower corners with the film's credits listed between them.