Directed, written by, and starring Julio Torres (Saturday Night Live, Los Espookys), Problemista is a bitingly witty tale of one man’s struggle to make ends meet as he battles the U.S. immigration system and strives to realize his dream of being a toy designer in New York City. With only a month left to find a sponsor for his visa, Alejandro connects with Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), an eccentric art critic who is obsessed with putting together a showcase of her cryogenically-frozen husband’s work. Alejandro agrees to become Elizabeth’s assistant under the stipulation that if they can put together the art show, she will sponsor his visa.
Watching Alejandro and Elizabeth’s relationship develop throughout Problemista was truly a sight to behold. Tilda Swinton is absolutely electric in this film, a multifaceted performance that bounces from deeply understanding and sympathetic to downright uncomfortable stubbornness to frantic desperation that just jumps right off the screen. Elizabeth’s erratic behavior leads her to confrontation with, and belittlement of, those around her at nearly every turn. Yet with Alejandro, she sees the spark of someone creative who is looking to fulfill their dream at any cost, and she begins to bond with him. This doesn’t mean her attitude towards him entirely softens, she’s still full of unreasonable expectations for him and she’s still prone to be belittling him, but she and Alejandro understand each other in a way that it seems no one else in the film does. Tilda Swinton and Julio Torres really make this film sing with their chemistry, even in moments where they’re not seeing eye to eye.
Alejandro himself is a dreamer, through and through He designs outlandish toys: a slinky that refuses to go down the stairs, or a toy car with one tire that slowly deflates, for example. Plenty of Alejandro’s every day interactions or thoughts are shown in the film to be something fantastical, from interactions with Elizabeth imaginatively becoming a scene where Alejandro is facing down a dragon in a cave, to a personified version of Craigslist, played by Larry Owens (Abbott Elementary, Life and Beth) acting as an ethereal digital genie offering Alejandro odd jobs so he can make ends meet. Alejandro sees the world as more than it is, even when he’s down on his luck, which is where a lot of Problemista’s heart comes from.
The New York City that Alejandro and Elizabeth are navigating is much like our own, but with minor and bizarre differences. With Alejandro’s mind painting the world with outlandish interactions, colors, and shapes, I also noticed throughout Problemista that every single pile of trash that lined the streets in the background while our characters were out and about contained some piece of art. Usually bright or colorful, none of this thrown out art littering the streets is ever interacted with or acknowledged, perhaps existing simply as a reflection of Alejandro’s perception of how the city cares about his art, or about him. Problemista is full of scenarios that do not go Alejandro’s way, knocking him further and further down a peg each time. This is especially felt in one of the central themes of the film, which is a critique of just how hard it is for immigrants to work with the United States immigration system.
As Alejandro struggles to get his visa sponsored, he’s not allowed to have a steady, paying job, meaning he’s working for Elizabeth for free. Meanwhile, he needs to come up with thousands of dollars to cover the fees to apply for the visa once it’s sponsored. It’s a ladder he can’t climb without bending the rules a little bit, which is where that Craigslist genie comes into play, leaving Alejandro to search for jobs that will pay him in cash. All of this while he’s still working with Elizabeth so she’ll sponsor his visa, alongside trying to pay his rent and buy meals, means that, much like real-life immigrants all across America, Alejandro is working very hard for very little in return, all for a chance to stay in the country in the first place. It’s a system designed seemingly to discourage immigrants from even trying, and Problemista shines a light on this issue beautifully.
Problemista is odd, it’s bizarre, but in a way that enhances its world. It’s also daring and funny and heartfelt in a way that I think only Julio Torres could have come up with. We get to see both Alejandro and Elizabeth grow and learn from each other. Alejandro learns to stand up for himself without losing his imaginative spark and not only is Elizabeth inspired by Alejandro’s resilience, it allows her to see something of herself in him and make the type of connection that she hasn’t felt in the time since she lost her husband. To quote a line from the movie, Problemista is about “doing what scares you and assembling yourself in the process” and it’s a message that is conveyed over and over again as we observe Alejandro and Elizabeth on their journey together.
Score: 8.5/10
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PROBLEMISTA
Trailer: CLICK HERE
Release Date: March 22nd
Written & Directed By: Julio Torres
Starring: Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton, RZA, Isabella Rossellini, Larry Owens, Catalina Saavedra, Greta Lee
Rating: R
Running Time: 98 minutes
Synopsis:
Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador, struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in New York City. As time on his work visa runs out, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country and realize his dream. From writer/director Julio Torres comes a surreal adventure through the equally treacherous worlds of New York City and the U.S. Immigration system.
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