Problemista

Problemista is a brilliant comedy of the surreal and the absurd, and it finds no shortage of either in the bureaucratic processes of immigration.

The beauty is that Torres never forces these messages down your throat. The movie is too looney, too specific to be so obvious.

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to find a creative partner who sees the world the way you do, the connection between Elizabeth and Alejandro will hit you joyfully and achingly.

Torres mixes in everything that makes his specific brand of comedy unique into Problemista: Alejandro's toy pitches are obscurely sassy, his imaginative use of CGI and costuming is fantastical, and his dry delivery is the perfect juxtaposition to the film's outlandish absurdity.

Problemista, which Torres wrote, directed and stars in, reveals a new willingness to tell a relatable story with a riveting sketch of an honest-to-goodness person.

The best parts of Problemista, which is a charming film without ever becoming more than semi-successful, bend the world through his perspective with the help of some Michel Gondry–esque DIY Surrealism.

The film doesn’t lock on a target long enough for it to work up a head of steam as satire about the art world and how it thrives on nepotism, let alone one about the frustrations of the immigration process.

A pleasant little mess. Many clever scenes, some of which work toward the whole. Greta Lee is excellent for all 2½ minutes she gets.

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 **** 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.

Everything has to be a metaphor - the visa process is a puzzle, the job search is an hourglass, fighting with his boss is like fighting a dragon as a knight, Craiglist is a weird omnipotent being. These are surface level observations but he seems to be very proud of them because we revisit these ideas every scene. Every conversation is interrupted with a bit to remind you of these metaphors as if you can’t follow along. The movie toes the line between satire and tritely sincere but it does a bad job at both.

Júlio Torres tem uma mente muito criativa para certas gags visuais, e na sua série "Fantasmas" o timing ficou perfeito. Para o cinema, seria necessáio um aprofundamento maior, e infelizmente o filme deixa a desejar. Há aqui também um protagonista que incomoda: sem carisma, se apoia exclusivamente no texto, e o roteiro higienizou muita coisa. O que restam são algumas tiradas e o talento da Tilda, que segurao longa de ponta a ponta. Essa busca pelo sonho americano e tendo a arte como pano de fundo em ambiente hostil já tem inúmeros exemplares de filmes, então o único diferencial aqui é mesmo o visual, que está bem inferior àquilo que Júlio pode oferecer.

Dreadful movie. We would have left midway through but parking was paid for and I had a beer. It was like a high school kid’s project for drama camp. And I read the professional reviews prior to attending which confirms to me that whole thing is a scam. Seriously. Nothing redeeming in that movie. Just shameful.