Eisenstein

Soviet director Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein crammed quite a bit of living into his brief 50 years of life: Before his death in 1948, he not only revolutionized modern cinema, but provided a body of written work that continues to serve as a cornerstone of film theory. The complexity of his character and the apparent contradictions of his life make him a knotty subject for any biographer, but Canadian director Renny Bartlett takes an interesting approach in this fanciful, fictionalized account of Eisenstein's career. It may not be entirely reliable in historical terms, but it offers an intriguing impression of the man, his art and his times. The film begins at the e...