Problemista

Writer/Director/Star Julio Torres' "Problemista" is a concoction that's equal parts surrealism, magical realism and outright whimsy.

Born in El Salvador, Torres moved to New York City to attend The New School. He was a writer on "Saturday Night Live" from 2016-2019 and Creator/Writer/Star of HBO's "Los Espookys" (2018-2022). Several members of the "Los Espookys" supporting cast appear in this film.

Many elements of "Problemista" are autobiographical. Torres stars as Alejandro, a young man who has recently arrived in New York City from El Salvador. Alejandro aspires to work at Hasbro to create new, odd versions of Barbie and the Cabbage Patch Kids. While trying to secure his work visa, Alejandro is fired from his job at FreezeCorp, where he was overseeing the remains of the freeze-dried, err, cryogenically maintained, artist Bobby. Bobby's widow Elizabeth takes on Alejandro as an unpaid assistant. Elizabeth will sponsor his visa application, so long as Alejandro helps her curate an exhibition of Bobby's paintings. As the ever-present narrator, Isabella Rossellini ("Marcel the Shell with Shoes On") provides the calm, thoughtful exposition that helps the moviegoer navigate this maze of odd events.

Torres uses his platform to point out the insanity of the immigration system he endured. For example, Alejandro is required to submit a $6000 filing fee with his visa application even though it's against the law for him to work in the US without, wait for it, acquiring a visa. Torres uses sand flowing through hourglasses to depict the plight of immigrants enmeshed in this Kafkaesque waiting process. When an hourglass runs out, it - and presumably the visa applicant - simply disappears. Throughout the film, Alejandro shuffles around on tiptoes, presumably terrified of doing anything to upset the delicately balanced craziness of his visa application or the surreal world he inhabits.

There's also some time spent sympathetically depicting what it's like to be a gig worker trying to survive in NYC. Along the way, the New York art community takes a couple of well-deserved broadsides.

In the role of Elizabeth, Tilda Swinton is likely to induce PTSD in any moviegoer who's ever had an unreasonable boss. Elizabeth rails about service in restaurants and about service from Apple. For no apparent reason, she spends a lot of time obsessing about the virtues of Filemaker Pro (it's a real thing), which Elizabeth believes is essential to properly organizing and curating her deceased husband's paintings. Eggs are the subject all of Bobby's paintings. His entire collection includes thirteen works. Elizabeth is labelled "the hydra" because she creates two additional problems every time she addresses an issue. She's a total maniac, but she also believes in Alejandro, in her own demented way, and suggests he should take up for himself a little more.

This is hardly a perfect film. The connections among the various scenes in the film can sometimes be tenuous. At points, Swinton's character feels like fingernails on a blackboard. The surrealism regularly injected into the story will be off-putting for many (include me in that group). Even so, "Problemista" is an ambitious feature film debut for a writer/director well on his way to fully finding his voice.

I'm not sure how this film hooked me but it did in the first 15 minutes. It has the wackiness of a "Joe vs the Volcano" (a film I adored) and the slight emotional tug of maybe "Harold and Maude". It feels like something bad could happen, like in real life, but still I'm rooting for the protagonist Alejandro's wild toy dreams to come true as well as rooting for him to (successfully) find his way through the immigration paperwork process.

And Tilda Swinton's character is swirling through life like a Tasmanian devil but I still liked her and, for some reason, wanted her to succeed as well.

It's not the kind of film that will make a top ten list but it is definitely one you'll want to watch more than once!

The problem with a comedy is that you will never please everybody as we all have a different sense of humour. I read that some other reviewers found it very funny whilst I found Problemista an entertaining movie that I enjoyed watching but not really funny. It has an ironic tone but it's not a tearjerker. Writer/director Julio Torres also played the main character, a weird looking nerd that tries to get sponsored by Tilda Swinton who plays an annoying "Karen". They both did a good job with their performances. The rest of the cast was good as well, but it was more about the two main characters than anyone else. It's worth watching.

I came in expecting a fun, wild, and interesting experience and this movie delivered ten fold. It was one of the best movies that I have seen in theaters in a long time and has one of my all time favorite performances by the ice queen herself, Tilda Swinton. My date and I laughed, we cringed, we were captivated, and at the end we were both crying tears of joy. It was heartfelt, surreal and a rare pleasure for us both. Tilda is both the villain and a sort of hero as well. We were both very impressed with the acting, writing and directing all of which were spearheaded by Julio Torres. I can't recommend this movie enough.

Isn't it amazing how failures can often lead to unexpected successes? Those missteps frequently have a way of opening meaningful doors, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time they occur. But how readily are we aware that such developments can occur? Such is the whirlwind experience of Alejandro Martinez (Julio Torres), a young, idealistic, inventive Salvadoran toy designer who emigrates to New York in search of a job in an incubator program at a major American toy manufacturer. But, to apply for the position, he must be present stateside, which means he needs a work visa to reside here long enough to make his pitch. That possibility seems to evaporate, though, when he loses his job as a client curator at a cryogenics company. Fortunately, however, as he's making his exit from the workplace, he meets and befriends a flamboyant art critic (Tilda Swinton) upset with the way the cryogenics company is handling the care of her late partner (RZA), an eccentric artist known for specializing in paintings of eggs. To raise funds for the painter's curation, she wants to stage an exhibition of his work but needs help to pull it off, which is where Alejandro enters the picture. He volunteers to assist with staging the show in exchange for her sponsorship so that he can obtain a new work visa to stay in the US. It sounds like a simple, straightforward arrangement, but, as he soon finds out, that's far from the case, as he launches into a wild and crazy odyssey filled with any number of outlandish personal and professional incidents, many of them ludicrous and comical yet surprisingly beneficial. This debut feature from actor-writer-director Torres tells an unconventional yet hilarious and insightful story of commitment, empowerment and imagination filled with colorful characters and enigmatic situations. Its clever production design, imaginative cinematography, and inclusion of surreal and symbolic sequences makes for an edgy yet entertaining watch, an impressive first offering from the former Saturday Night Live staff writer. While there are some instances where the narrative tends to become a little too outrageously self-satisfied for its own good, the bulk of the film stays on course and features an array of fine performances from Torres, Swinton and a host of supporting players. "Problemista" was originally scheduled for release in summer 2023 but was delayed by the SAG-AFTRA strike. However, as this delightfully quirky offering shows, the wait was indeed worth it, as it often is for those who encounter seemingly endless snafus on the way to achieving their greatness. If you're fond of the irreverent, as I am, you'll get a kick out of this one, an engaging tale that both enlightens and entertains while giving your mind a lot to play with.