Problemista (2024)
Directed by: Julio Torres
Premise: An immigrant from El Salvador (Julio Torres) needs a sponsor for his work visa. He becomes the assistant of an eccentric woman (Tilda Swinton) whose husband has been cryogenically frozen.
What Works: Problemista has a lot going on but the movie is primarily a coming-of-age story about an immigrant living in the United States. Alejandro is an aspiring toy creator trying to break into Hasbro’s intern program but he needs a sponsor to endorse his work visa so he can stay in the country. The film dramatizes the Kafkaesque nature of the immigration system; the visa process costs thousands of dollars but Alejandro cannot accept official employment until the work visa is approved. Desperation sends Alejandro into the unofficial employ of Elizabeth, an erratic woman who is determined to showcase her late husband’s paintings. Problemista includes a lot of surreal images, usually as inserts or cutaways, but the filmmakers use those images purposefully. Alejandro’s navigation of the immigration system is depicted as a maze and when he resorts to Craigslist for money the site is imagined as a genie-like trickster. The unusual images fit well with Alejandro’s character and his aspiration to create toys but also Elizabeth’s fixation on her husband’s art work. Problemista is partly about what art means to people and how it can represent aspirations but also how our relationship with it can be complicated and even keep us trapped in unresolved frames of mind. The film has a unique look but also complex and interesting characters brought to life by some impressive performances. Alejandro is played by Julio Torres, who also wrote and directed Problemista, and Torres does a very good job revealing the character’s inner life though subtle tells. Tilda Swinton is terrific as Elizabeth. She’s erratic and unstable and Swinton is frightening but she also has moments of lucidity and vulnerability that make her character complex.
What Doesn’t: Problemista has several tangents that don’t have enough screentime to qualify as a subplot and don’t make a meaningful contribution to the rest of the story. The opening of the film introduces Alejandro and his mother (Catalina Saavedra). She is an artist and she gave Alejandro a sheltered childhood and throughout the movie he checks in with her over the phone. The mother’s artistic background fits into the film’s themes and gives context for Alejandro’s own artistic qualities but not much comes of the mother-son relationship. At one point in Problemista, Alejandro is desperate for money and answers an illicit Craigslist ad. This moment is out of sync with the tone of the picture; it feels like it belongs in some other movie. There are no dramatic or personal consequences to the scene and it comes across extraneous.
Bottom Line: Problemista is a creative drama with some really interesting visuals and a pair of great performances. The movie is a little overstuffed with tangents and ideas but the core of it is a coming of age story and a workplace drama and those aspects of the film succeed.
Episode: #1006 (July 28, 2024)