Sergei Eisenstein is a young, Russian director who had some success in his own country, but when he tries his luck abroad, Hollywood is less favourable and his home country becomes suspicious when he remains out of the country for a long time. Eisenstein decides to travel to Mexico to make his next film.
Greenaway’s film plays in the 1960’ies with old cars and a classic Mexico. Eisenstein is a bit of an odd character which allows Greenaway to display his somewhat pompous style with nudity. The director also chose to make use of experimentations which are sometimes alright, but sometimes a bit annoying, like the ‘repetitive three screen picture in picture’ effects.
Eisenstein gets a guide in the form of Palomino Cañedo with whom he first becomes friendly and later much more. However we do not get a whole lot of that part of the story, Eisenstein supposedly shoots miles and miles of film which takes so long that his sponsors become impatient. Eisenstein gets tossed between his longing to his home country and Mexico which he learns to love as well.
“Eisenstein In Guanajuato” is a nice film, but in my opinion not one of the better Greenaways. It is mostly a drama with subtle humour and a few of the known Greenaway approaches.
