MIFF NOTES: Eisenstein in Guanajuato (2015, Dir. Peter Greenaway)

I surreptitiously alighted the Peter Greenaway bus a number of years back. Too much baggage (by which I mean too many lengthy projects about suitcases) but he has always held a special place in my film-loving heart.

For that reason I've often checked the timetable to see if any interesting services have been scheduled. One passed smack-bang through the centre of MIFF this year, the 72 year old auteur's impossibly vibrant and often hilarious history lesson, Eisenstein in Guanajuato.

Greenaway's always had an impish sense of humour but here he goes for flat out romp, with Finish born actor Elmer Bäck taking on a frenetic version of the Russian godfather of cinema, Sergei Eisenstein, as he finds inspiration and cherry-poping homo-love in 1930's Mexico.

Bäck's is a charismatic performance that gives Greenaway's film an air of accessibility and with his bounding enthusiasm the director follows through. He's not given up on his old tricks though; Eisenstein still reads like the cinematic encapsulation of a wikipedia entry, with hyperlink after hyperlink overlaid on the sumptuous images.

This fits perfectly with Greenaway's eccentric take on Eisenstein, presented here as a name dropper par excellence. Even if this is only to facilitate Greenaway's rampant intertextuality, I loved it. The muddle-haired genius manically recounts the events that brought him to Guanajuanto to shoot a film of the Mexican Revolution, while Greenaway furiously throws the corresponding images on the screen, or screens if you take into account his propensity to split the space at will.

That makes for a wild time onscreen, backed up, as always, with exceptional production design. There's a most amazing shower, all twisted piping and mirrors, a bedroom with its under-lit glass floor, 360˚ degree rooftop terraces and promenades lined with gnarled trees and shoeshiners. And if there's not enough sex in all that, there is more than enough when things get hot and heavy between Eisenstein and his guide, Carlos Jorge Palomino Cañedo (embodied by an exceptionally well-endowed Luis Alberti).

Let's just say, the Russians have made it known that they aren't completely at ease with Greenaway's depiction of their beloved director. Two members of our audience were; they got a little hot under the collar (they were still going at it after the house lights came up). I'm sure they appreciated a member of our party cheering them on from the sidelines with: "Yeah, Peter Greenaway gets me hot too!"

Doesn't he just?

Audience participation aside, the film is a blast. It may dribble away a little in the final act and even show its meagre budget at times but Eisenstein in Guanajuato is never less than enthralling. I'll be ordering another trip if it picks up a general release. And I'm up for the return journey (Greenaway being Greenaway is already working on a companion piece). In any event, it's great to see Greenaway back on the big screen and in such an explosive way.

And for those of you who have not tasted Greenaway before, don't be put off. Just as Eisenstein discovered, Guanajuato is inspirational, especially for virgins. I'm pretty sure it will have you begging for more.

★★★★

Trailer:

Eisenstein in Guanajuato screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2015.