Eisenstein in Guanajuato

Legendary Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's trip to Mexico in the early 1930s is cinema lore. Following an unsuccessful flirtation with Charles Chaplin and his United Artists cohorts in Hollywood, Eisenstein (Elmer Bäck) left the U.S. for Mexico to shoot a picture funded by author Upton Sinclair (The Jungle). In Mexico, Eisenstein stalled and hobnobbed with artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, while Stalin called the filmmaker a deserter and pressured him to return to the U.S.S.R. Despite hiring hundreds of Mexican soldiers, Eisenstein left the country without a finished film after Sinclair shuttered the production. The discovery of pornography and “blasphemous” imagery in Eisenstein's luggage at the U.S./Mexico border adds extra juice to this dramatic story that was ripe for film adaptation. Here, filmmaker Peter Greenaway's bio-pic chronicles the behind-the-scenes shenanigans, paying particular attention to the rumored affair that Eisenstein had with his male Mexican guide, al the while displaying the director's trademark extravagant flourishes. Over-the-top in every regard—bursting with exaggerated and near-farcical performances, hyper-sexuality, Technicolor hues, and shots that sometimes shift into triptych or morph like liquid—the film also features interwoven archival footage from Eisenstein's films Strike, Battleship Potemkin, and October, as well as clips of the filmmaker and real-life historical players. The cumulative effect is a bit of a cinematic trainwreck, but a beautiful, mesmerizing one that film buffs will appreciate. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include an interview with costars Elmer Bäck and Luis Alberti (26 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven but beautiful-looking film.] (P. Morehart)