Problemista follows a young man named Alejandro trying to find a work sponsor while dealing with the unhinged art critic Elizabeth as they try to put together an art show in honor of her husband. Alejandro dreams of working for Hasbro and creating unique toys, but is in jeopardy of being deported back to El Salvador because his work visa has run out. He creates an unlikely bond with Elizabeth and they can gather all of Elizabeth’s husband’s works and sell them so he can remain in cryosleep.
As an American-born citizen, I know I will never understand the stress that is immigration. Jose Torres pulls from real life to show what these people have to go through each day to survive. But Torres wanted Problemista to be more than just a visa story. It is one about a boy who has a super specific dream he wants to achieve and how he gets there. He says “Alejandro wants to be in the States. But he doesn’t just want to be in the States, he wants to be a toy designer. He doesn’t just want to be a toy designer, he wants to be a toy designer at this one company. And he doesn’t want to make just any toys, he wants to make these incredibly niche, unsellable toys.”
The movie is very visually engaging. I liked how the most mundane things like searching on Craigslist for work or taking a stressful phone call are displayed in colorful, artistic ways. Even when he tries to sell saloon products on the street, he’s ignored but we see the patrons walk right through him, as if he was never even there in their minds. The movie exudes personality in that sense as it is so creatively shot and edited.
The performances by Torres and Tilda Swinton are nothing short of excellent. Alejandro isn’t a normal fish out of water. He is determined to achieve his dream, regardless of what he has to do to get there. He lets others berate him, and walk over him, and Torres brings that innocence and determination to the role. As the writer and director, he put himself in the best position possible to succeed.
To put it nicely, Tilda Swinton plays the worst person you might encounter in your day-to-day life. She is abrasive and erratic, starts conflicts out of nowhere, and is unpleasant to interact with. Yet we see her delicate side. Her husband had terminal cancer and decided to freeze his body, leaving her with that hole in her life and in her bank account. It isn’t until Alejandro pushes back on her irrational demands does she show someone else her soft side. The pairing of the two shouldn’t work but it does, because they both have hyper-specific dreams but they are deadset on achieving them.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Problemista is a very underrated movie that packs a lot of heart and whimsy into its story. Jose Torres delivers a great debut as a writer and director, and Swinton delivers a great performance that will get your stress levels up. It is worth the watch.
