Eisenstein In Guanajuato

"Eisenstein in Guanajuato" is the notorious postmodern filmmaker Peter Greenaway's loving tribute to one of his cinematic heroes, the groundbreaking early Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Abandon your preconceived notions about biopics and forget about documentary -- from first frame to last this movie is a distinctly Greenaway fantasy.

Most biographers would show the life of a revolutionary filmmaker with scenes of the artist creating. But Peter Greenaway, whose widely released achievements include "Prospero's Books," "The Pillow Book" and "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover," shows us almost no filmmaking. Rather, he centers his narrative on 10 days where Eisenstein went to Mexico and shot a bunch of footage that never came to anything.

Eisenstein's early films, like "Strike," "Battleship Potemkin" and "October" were emotionally riveting, innovative silent films, masterworks of propaganda that expanded ideas of cinematic technique, especially in the realm of editing. Rather than looking at those, Greenaway shows us a time in 1930 where Eisenstein had one of his great failures: He shot a movie that he was never able to craft with his editing magic.

The focus of "Eisenstein in Guanajuato," a largely fabricated relationship between the filmmaker and his Mexican guide Palomino Canedo, is painted for us in a typical Greenaway fashion. The frank eroticism between the two men is unnaturally lighted, surrealistically composed and shot from impossible angles. The dialogue is stilted, concentrating on images, sensational juxtapositions of sex and death. The arguments here are intellectual and we are never given the opportunity to fully empathize with the characters. But the artistry is nonetheless a fascinating thing to behold.

This DVD includes an interview with actors Elmer Back and Luis Alberti and the original theatrical trailer.

"Eisenstein in Guanajuato"
DVD $27.99
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