‘Problemista’ Review – Whimsical & Silly Satire Scores Points Heart And Originality

When watching Problemista, a film written and directed by Julio Torres, it’s clear that Torres was influenced by the surrealistic work of Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman. It’s often offbeat and is definitely for a particular audience but if offbeat is your thing, it’s the kind of movie that will be right up your alley. Perhaps its biggest strength is that Problemista is also very much its own thing. While Torres matches the weirdness of Gondry and Kaufman, it’s clear that they wouldn’t have Torres’ eye for the New York art world and the Latino immigrant experience in America. From this angle, Torres can tell a uniquely creative story while also honing in on filmmakers who have inspired him.

The story of Alejandro (Torres) is narrated by Isabella Rossellini (because why not) and the audience learns that he longs to work as a toy designer for Hasbro while also receiving sponsorship for a visa to stay in New York City rather than returning to his home in El Salvador to live with his artist mother Dolores (Catalina Saavedra). Alejandro’s life hits a snag when he is fired from the cryogenics lab which has provided his work visa while he works towards his actual dreams. He has only one month to find a new job and in a desperate move to avoid deportation, Alejandro begins freelancing for an eccentric art critic named Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton). This situation is also strange as she’s also the widow of an artist named Bobby (RZA) whose body he was tending to in a lab. A potential visa sponsorship is dangled in Alejandro’s face when Elizabeth asks him to help her create a show to showcase her husband’s work but as he does the bidding of her every whim, he sees his time staying in the U.S. slipping away as his all too important visa deadline approaches.

At the center of the film is Alejandro and it probably helps that this is a project that Torres has crafted himself because he understands every nuance, want, and desire of a character that is desperate to stay in the United States and achieve his ultimate dreams. That’s not to say that Alejandro isn’t an oddball, especially considering his ideas for children’s pastimes may not be suitable for a big-name company like Hasbro. Despite his offbeat nature, he’s also relatable in the sense of his determination. This is why the audience especially relates to him when he has to answer all of Elizabeth’s outlandish demands. She’s an eccentrically weird version of Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada and as Alejandro continues to work for her, you can feel some of his confident potential chipping away wondering if this nightmare situation is worth the reward.

The screenplay balances being incredibly incisive in moments while also a sense of buoyancy for Alejandro’s future, something that is matched by Torres’ performance. What is incredibly respectable, despite how off the wall some of the movie is, the story never shies away from showcasing the difficulties of the real-life immigrant experience. Alejandro makes various attempts to make enough money to survive in New York City while also attempting to maintain his place in the U.S. There’s a Catch-22 to this experience and Torres also shows that there is almost a near-impossibility of taking the route of legal immigration for many people faced to go through it. Alejandro loves the welcoming nature of New York City and the potential of endless possibilities from staying in this country but he’s also presented with examples that these endless opportunities seem to be offered to everyone but himself.

In the midst of all of all of these real-life problems for Alejandro, is a story full of deadpan humor and heart. Whether or not viewers resonate with the various tonal shifts will come down to personal taste but the humor tends to kick in at the right moments as things begin to become too serious at times. The real-life individual experience is much like this as life throws serious curveballs followed by moments of great levity. Social satire is sold best with a dash of offbeat humor and Problemista succeeds because the satire is indeed sharp and telling while Alejandro remains a relatable figure for the audience despite his eccentricities. As a multiple Emmy-nominated writer for Saturday Night Life who has honed his craft in other left-of-center TV projects such as The Other Two and Together Together, Torres has a knack for laying down a joke while also identifying the truth within this story.

As performers, both Torres and Swinton bring their characters to life in specific and deliberate ways that allow the audience to see their differing personalities. Swinton slinks in the role of Elizabeth as she berates service industry workers and makes Alejandro perform all of her tasks (if you’ve worked in the service industry Swinton will have you sweating bullets remembering customers who pulled her shenanigans). In stark contrast, Torres’ Alejandro moves with uncertainty and is very much in service to her. This creates another identifiable relationship between Alejandro and the audience. Even though Swinton’s take on Elizabeth will be viewed by many as very over the top, Torres’ reactions to her will likely put audiences in the headspace of having any boss who was difficult to please.

It’s a credit to Swinton that she’s able to not just play Elizabeth as a one-dimensional “Karen.” She is irrational and difficult to deal with but somehow the actress brings some humanity and nuance to the character. It would be easy to call this another heightened creation of Swinton’s since she has become known for displaying characters that are certainly different but Elizabeth is recognizable as a person we have all encountered in our lives. Swinton makes the audience believe there is more to why Elizabeth is so insanely demanding.

Torres also achieves a sense of visual whimsy that makes his story more unique than most. This is best displayed during the film’s opening sequence which has an alluring fairytale quality. The audience sees a vision of Alejandro’s (played as a child by Logan J. Alarcon-Poucel) childhood growing up in El Salvador. The opening makes it clear through its visual flourishes and storybook voice-over narration of Isabella Rossellini that this is all going to be some kind of offbeat fantasy. The story won’t be straightforward or familiar, in the classical sense, but it will certainly be interesting.

Torres truly makes a name for himself as a visionary with this project. It’s a term likely thrown around too much but it’s easy to tell with Problemista that he’s a true artist who had a singular vision for this film. Through its unpredictability and imaginative nature, Torres has still crafted a story that is easy to relate to. Everyone may not appreciate the vibe of his film but for those that do, there is much to indulge in. At the end of the day, despite some of the weirdness on display and its flights of fancy, what will engage audiences is that this is a fully realized story that is grounded in the realities of its situations which ultimately makes it surprisingly moving.

Problemista is now playing in select theaters courtesy of A24. The film