Riding the success of his film Battleship Potemkim, Sergei Eisenstein arrives in Hollywood looking to work on his next new project. Eisenstein's perspective doesn't gel with the anti-communist movement that is bubbling up in America, which leads to him traveling to Mexico in 1931, intent on shooting his next film thanks to privately funded Americans. Chronicling Eisenstein's experiences while in Mexico, Peter Greenaway's Eisenstein in Guanajuato is a film about the filmmaker's sexual awakening, exploring the sensual relationship he develops with his Mexican guide, something that would prove as a significant step in shaping his later work. Eisenstein in Guanajuato is a very kinetic, energetic experience that features an electric central performance from Elmer Back. In the beginning, the film feels a lot like Greenaway's response to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, a stylish descent into the mind of an extremely talented and unique mind who finds himself in a culture and environment very different than his own. From a technical standpoint, Eisenstein in Guanajuato is another impressive effort from Peter Greenaway, who embraces the older techniques and style of filmmaking customary of Sergei Eisenstein's time, with heavy use of orchestral music, three-panel visuals, and a healthy dose of frantic editing. The set designs and craft involved are so impressive Eisenstein in Guanajuato could be appreciated for its visual aesthetic alone, but what makes the film really stand out is how emotionally resonant is it able to become regardless of its eccentric, free-spirited nature. While very much an absurdest, surrealist comedy on the surface, Eisenstein in Guanajuato has a deeper core, being a film about sexual awakening and the importance to discover oneself, regardless of what outside influence try and dictate. In a way in which Peter Greenaway seems only capable, Eisenstein in Guanajuato reveals a man who begins to accept his sexual identity, using a creative blend of surrealism, absurdism, and realism. One of my favorite sequences takes place directly after Sergei Eisenstein first shows attraction to his Mexican guide, a scene that finds him on the phone with his wife while in the shower, a symbolic represenation of a man who is trying to wash away this homophobic feelings towards the guide, not yet accepting where his sexual desires lie. While I have no idea how historically accurate of factual based Peter Greenaway's Eisenstein in Guanajuato is another expressive piece of art.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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