Director Peter Greenaway considers Sergei Eisenstein to be his first cinematic hero. Here was a film pioneer whose use of silent montages revealed a means of presenting a story without being a slave to the narrative form. Greenaway, who has long argued that film has become little more than a medium used to illustrate text, delves deep into his cinematic bag of tricks to depict the Russian filmmaker’s ill-fated Que Viva Mexico. It's ironic then that Eisenstein in Guanajuato remains little more than a series of filmed conversations.

The film opens with Eisenstein and crew travelling towards the title city. A narrator describes the director’s career up to this point while images from his silent masterpieces, including October: Ten Days That Shook the World, flash across the screen. What follows, we are informed, may be viewed as the ten days that shook Eisenstein. For those unfamiliar with Greenaway’s work, the next ten minutes may shock them as well.

Elmer Bäck's constant disrobing tends to distract the viewer from hearing what his character has to say, including when he carries out a conversation with his penis. In fact Eisenstein seems to never stop talking. Even in the midst of losing his virginity to a Mexican guide, the two men debate the origins of syphilis.

Ultimately, Greenaway’s film recalls not so much the artistry of Eisenstein than the excesses of Ken Russell.