Year of Release: 2023
Director: Julio Torres
Starring: Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton, RZA, Isabella Rossellini, Catalina Saavedra, James Scully, Laith Nakli, Greta Lee, Larry Owens, Kelly McCormack, Eudora Peterson, Greta Titelman, Shakina
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review
"Problemista" is Julio Torres' feature directorial debut, following a considerable lengthy experience as a writer for "Saturday Night Live", alongside other tv-shows he's also written throughout his career. The film focuses its narrative on Alejandro, a young man from El Salvador who dreams of becoming a toy designer for Hasbro. His mom is herself an artist who has always supported Alejandro's dreams, and he currently shares a small apartment in Bushwick, while applying for the Hasbro intern program with various ideas/concepts, which aren't really going anywhere. He perseveres nonetheless, and keeps a journal with him at all times, where he documents all sorts of toy concepts that cross his mind. He works at a company that cryogenically freezes people, in order to reawaken them in the future, but is fired, and as a result his status in the US is in jeopardy as he needs a work sponsor in order to stay in the country. Alejandro is told by his immigration attorney he needs someone who can sponsor him immediately, and also needs to get some money coming, even if he can't be taking any money unless he has a sponsor. An unexpected and possible solution comes in the shape of Elizabeth, the wife of a cryogenically frozen artist by the name of Bobby, who is having issues paying for his continued frozen maintenance. Elizabeth hires Alejandro as a freelance, with the promise of a sponsorship, if they can get Bobby's work collected and properly curated, and eventually have an exhibit around his work. Since Alejandro needs some additional cash, he starts taking random Craigslist jobs, which prove more challenging than he expected, the same going for Elizabeth herself.
"Problemista" is an interesting feature, one that mixes just enough dosage of realism with dashes of surrealistic metaphors, that keep it always interesting and unexpected. It's a combination of Michel Gondry/Charlie Kaufman's universe with a bit of Terry Gilliam tossed in for good measure. It is also very ostensibly queer sensitive, which makes it that much more diverse and closer to the lead actor/writer/director himself. The narrative itself has traces of Martin Scorsese's "After Hours", particularly as the situations in which Alejandro finds himself get progressively more complicated, only "Problemista" doesn't revolve around one single night, but more around a timeline in which Alejandro has to solve his immigration issues, and also address his dream job situation. It's a film that smartly plays with the archetypes of certain characters, namely Elizabeth's "difficult" personality which can to a certain extent be associated with the typical cliché of the New Yorker embodiment, and the supporting characters, all of whom fit the poseur/artsy vibe, and are just sufficiently flakey, self centered, and likable, even if they're teetering towards the obnoxious. Julio Torres smartly makes the situations a hybrid flow of realism and his surrealistic impressions/interpretations, which makes the film that much more interesting visually (and stylistically). The cast, largely dominated by Torres and the stupendous Tilda Swinton, with the additional narration of Isabella Rossellini are on point, with Swinton in particular creating a character unlike any of the ones she has previously embodied. She's in equal measures chaotic, neurotic, forceful, and also almost endearing in a rather warped way. The production team is solid, in particular the cinematography from Fredrik Wenzel, production design from Katie Byron, and costumes by Catherine George. It's a really interesting feature worth watching.
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