The charming, quirky and mostly very funny Problemista comes courtesy of former Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres, who wrote, directed, and stars in this story of Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador living in New York, whose work visa is about a month away from expiring. That will force him back to El Salvador, where his adoring mother (the legendary Catalina Saavedra, Rotting in the Sun, The Maid) still resides and calls him frequently because she misses him but wants him to do well in America.
Alejandro is in this predicament because he got fired from his job at a cryogenic freezing facility, where he accidentally unplugged a chamber housing the body of an artist named Bobby (RZA, whom we see in flashbacks). It just so happens that Bobby’s wife, Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), can’t afford the payments to keep her husband-sicle at the facility, and Alejandro has a few solid ideas about how to leverage Bobby’s paintings to make enough money. If Alejandro is able to help her gather a collection of 13 of Bobby’s paintings (all of eggs in different settings), she’ll sponsor him and he can get a new visa. Alejandro’s dream is to apply to become a part of a big toy company’s incubator program, in which young, would-be toy designers get to introduce and develop their ideas, but he can only do that if he legally lives in the U.S. That’s the serious part of Problemista, which does treat the issue of immigration pretty seriously. But the rest of the film is ridiculous, beginning with Alejandro’s various toy ideas, including a Barbie who has her fingers crossed behind her back, making her more intriguing. Is she a liar? A promise breaker?
Torres’ portrayal of Alejandro is a fine piece of subtle physical comedy. He walks with a strange shuffle, almost always with a backpack, and he somehow embodies confidence and defeat with a single look. Elizabeth finds him a terrific idea man, even though he’s always lying to her about his computer skills, which becomes a running joke throughout the film. Swinton is in top form here, playing a woman who simply doesn’t accept (or perhaps understand) the word "no." She talks through people, rather than to them; and she seems to get hysterical at the drop of a dime, but then accuses everyone around her of yelling at her, when they clearly are not. With flaming reddish-pink hair, Swinton delivers a detailed, beautifully observed, absolutely hysterical performance that is going to go down as one of the best of the year by any actor. We know at some point she’s going to turn on Alejandro; we just don’t know at what inopportune moment it will happen and how deeply it will destroy his life.
The film also features nice supporting work from Greta Lee (Past Lives) as one of Bobby’s mistresses who currently possesses one of the egg paintings that is desperately needed to complete the collection. In addition, Isabella Rossellini serves as the movie’s narrator, for no reason other than she has a spectacular voice and she’s cool.
But at its core, Problemista is something of a teardown of the treacherous and goofy New York City art scene that always seems to place the value of art higher after the artist is dead, regardless of the work’s quality. The film is also a celebration of the art world’s outsiders who still find a way to navigate the space. By Problemista's end, Alejandro has unexpectedly internalized the lessons Elizabeth taught him, even when she wasn’t teaching him anything, and he’s able to finally gain access into his chosen profession as a result. The film is weirdly positive, despite all of the bad behavior on display throughout, and above all else, it’s peppered with some incredibly funny moments. I’m truly excited to see what Torres has to show us next.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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