Movie Review: Problemista

It’s always refreshing to watch a movie from a filmmaker who has a clear vision and fully understands how to use the medium to get their story across. In Problemista, writer and director Julio Torres establishes himself as one of them, using imaginatively fantastic visuals and laugh-out-loud comedy to fully immerse audiences in the inner world of a young, gay, Salvadoran immigrant trying to make it in America, working against a system seemingly designed to fight him at every step.

Alejandro (Torres) led a sheltered life with his artist mother Dolores (Catalina Saavedra) in El Salvador. Now, having emigrated to New York City, he dreams of becoming a toy designer for Hasbro, but only receives an automated rejection email as a response. To get by and to remain in the country on a work visa, he works for FreezeCorp, which offers cryogenic services to its clients (which it is legally required to call “euthanasia”). After accidentally unplugging the artist Bobby (RZA), he encounters his art critic wife Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), and when his mishap leads to his firing, he unintentionally winds up working for her as she tries to mount a gallery show of Bobby’s paintings, all of which are of eggs.

Torres charms in the lead role, perfectly embodying the character’s endearing naïveté and boundless optimism in the face of seemingly impossible odds. Swinton really steals the show however, in an Oscar-worthy performance that vacillates between unhinged ire and delusional charm from one moment to the next, coming across like Edina Monsoon from Absolutely Fabulous cranked up to 100.

Torres’ script rings true, capturing the futility-by-design of the United States immigration system while also pointing out more universal problems, like the arbitrary cruelness of many bank’s overdraft fee policies or some industries’ insistence on using unnecessarily complicated and expensive software. The moments of whimsy give us a window into the way Alejandro and his mother view the world and offer some of the film’s most visually striking and funny moments, such as when he goes job-hunting via the personification of Craigslist (Larry Owens).

Between Swinton’s gleefully unhinged performance and the bursts of biting, absurdist comedy (Alejandro’s toy ideas like a Slinky that won’t go down stairs, forcing children to take the journey on their own) this is one of the year’s funniest films. But it also has a great deal of heart, and never forgets about the humanity of all of its characters. Quirky, charming, and beautiful (visually and emotionally), Problemista is a post-modern comedy masterpiece. ★★★★★