Eisenstein In Guanajuato

I think this is the kind of film where it is important for the audience to know what they are actually getting into. And by that I mean, not just the storyline of the film but also a bit of history about the film and the subjects of the film. This film specifically relies too much on pieces of information about a then well-known Russian film-maker who was quite popular. And in this film, we get to see the unauthorised biography of what could have happened when he along with his crew visited Mexico to shoot for his next film.

In 1931, Eisenstein, famous Russian director, drove from California to Guadajuato, after two years of unsuccessfully trying to get a production started in Hollywood. Eisenstein in a clownish and an eccentric  man who gets very fascinated by the country and finds too much similarities and differences between his motherland and Mexico. Canedo, is a handsome academician who has been assigned to the director to show him around and be his companion. The director who came to shoot his dream ‘Que viva Mexico’ ends up shooting almost 250 miles of the film , never to get to edit it, but in the process gets too diverted by exploring his own sexuality, his love that he will soon find out for Canedo. The primary focus of this film is to show the intensity and chemistry between the two leads, how Eisenstien comes to terms with losing his virginity and embrace who he is himself and possibly explore love.

The film is grand and is filmed in a very theatrical, over the top large frameworks, with large monologues but actually thats the kind of setting that is needed for such a film. Setting the facts outright, I may not have liked the film but I can totally feel the passion of the makers behind this film. This film, if for nothing, will definitely be remembered for shelling elaborate scene where Eisenstien loses his virginity to Canedo. A very graphic yet poetic scene, this forms the crux of the relationship evolving between the two men. Apparently it was this sexual encounter in Mexico that defined the kinds of films that Eisenstein used to make and will end of making after returning back from Mexico. My interest in the film failed very early on, because I just couldn’t connect with anything significant happening. The two men would walk around various parts of the city, or sit naked in the hotel room talking about all kinds of things, which for some may add to the story but for me it did not. Other characters would just come and go without adding anything significant. Performance wise, I think the actor playing the lead role does a very very good job.

I can see the film doing rounds of gay festival circuits with such in your face nudity and sex-scene and getting popular but I highly doubt that will this film ever find any appreciation outside this circle. (3/10)