83
Elmer Bäck’s performance as Eisenstein is exceptional, his manic energy somehow able to match that of the film’s visuals and achieving a synergy of exuberance.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
60
Rigorous and outrageous, Greenaway's defiant approach to narrative only offers insight into his character, not Eisenstein's.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
Greenaway’s habitual approach is perfect for this material, constantly externalizing the director’s ideas about Eisenstein’s life and work and the way the two are connected in a way that speaks directly -- often quite literally -- to the audience.
75
What comes through clearly by the end of the film is the act of one artist's eccentric generosity breathing new awareness into the life of another.
63
New York Post by Farran Smith Nehme
The film has all the incessant showiness that can make Greenaway irksome: split screens, CGI, deliberately alienating performances. But the man loves a beautiful shot and a witty line; those are the things that carry the film.
50
The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Photos, clips from Eisenstein’s own films and from newsreels, and the director’s erotic drawings are spliced in or sometimes projected over the background, but the overloaded visual plane only underlines the fact that Eisenstein In Guanajuato never moves anywhere; eventually, it becomes stultifying. It’s a movie jumping in place.
40
Screen International by Lee Marshall
Sure, there’s a strong element of arch playfulness in the exercise, but that doesn’t make the end result any less tiresome. In Eisenstein In Guanajuato, Greenaway is good at making us look, but not at making us care.
50
Los Angeles Times by Michael Rechtshaffen
Greenaway's boundary-pushing, breathlessly in-your-face approach begins to take its toll on viewer patience.
80
Greenaway has wrought an outrageously unconventional and deliriously profane biopic that could take decades to be duly appreciated.
70
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Beyond the arty trappings and flamboyant showmanship that are typical of Mr. Greenaway, 73, Eisenstein in Guanajuato is a brazen provocation.