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Day 7 @ MSPIFF 2016: 'Eisenstein In Guanajuato' Reviewed

For some critics, the idea of writing about a Peter Greenaway movie is akin to the proverbial "dancing about architecture." Greenaway's films can often have such a finely honed aesthetic, and one built from incongruous formal juxtapositions -- tony but opulent, refined but reckless, arty but erogenous.

To that last point, he's hardly averse to straight up prurience. Arguably his most famous film -- The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover -- was one of the earliest films to garner (or dare to accept) an NC-17 rating, on home video at least.

He's always exhibited a painterly eye and an indebtedness to the masters of visual art forms, and to that end, it's almost surprising that it took him this long to tackle the career of Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein, who at least in his later, post-montage works (specifically the spectacular Ivan the Terrible) took a hard left turn into baroque tableaux ... and, more surprisingly for the director who gave the world Battleship Potemkin, actually holding on shots for longer than a few seconds.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato focuses on the time the director spent in pre-production for Que Viva Mexico, parlaying into "ten days that shook Eisenstein" (a reference to the subtitle of the director's October).

Eisenstein's well-documented (and ludicrously disputed) homosexuality and the privileged moment of liberation he experienced at this particular point in his life and career fuels Greenaway's imagination, as Eisenstein indulges in a love affair with his guide Palomino Cañedo. The provocation of their trysts are overshadowed by the exertions of Greenaway's camera. And if ultimately the movie doesn't stand shoulder with the director's finest works, it's certainly on a higher plane than most domestic Hollywood period biopics.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato is playing at 4:30 p.m. at Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis, and then again at 7:10 p.m. at St. Anthony Main Theater on Sunday, April 17.

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Other Highlights For Wednesday, April 13

Alena
(credit: MSPIFF)

Women He's Undressed (Gillian Armstrong, Australia) Director Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career; Little Women) takes a close look at the life and times (and Oscars) of famed Australian costume designer Orry-Kelly in this haute couture documentary. (Uptown Theatre; 7 p.m.)

My King (Maïwenn, France) Emmanuel Bercot and Vincent Cassel star in writer-director Maïwenn's wild romance. Why do fools fall in love? Because they get to air everything out in movies. (St. Anthony Main Theatre; 7:05 p.m.)

Alena (Daniel di Grado, Sweden) The hell of childhood bullying gets another striking workout in this stylish Swedish import, about the pariah at an all-girls school and the hell her torment raises for all concerned. (St. Anthony Main Theatre; 9:50 p.m.)

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For the festival schedule, and a complete listing of all the movies being shown, click here. Ticket information is available here.

Throughout the entirety of the 2016 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, WCCO.com will be spotlighting one notable movie each day, along with other notable screenings. To see WCCO.com's complete coverage on the MSPIFF, click here.

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