Macdonald, Khan the strongest pieces of ‘Puzzle’
Based on a 2010 Golden Bear-nominated Argentine film of the same name (“Rompecabezas”), Mark Turtletaub’s not exactly razor-sharp “Puzzle” is a pop feminist empowerment fairy tale with a Prince Charming of Indian descent and a Cinderella, who is an unfulfilled wife and mother and a prodigy at solving puzzles.
The film appears at times to take place in the 1950s or ’60s. But it’s set in the present day, and some of it seems not quite wholly formed. It co-stars Kelly Macdonald, the Scotswoman who has stolen our hearts in everything from “Trainspotting” (1996) to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Harrows: Part 2” (2011), who is enchanting as the suburban housewife and prodigy Agnes, and the great Irrfan Khan (“The Lunchbox,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Jurassic World”), who is her perfect suitor as Robert, the wealthy New York City puzzle master in search of a new competition partner.
Puzzle competition is both a real thing and wonderful metaphor for romance and life in general. Agnes loves her brutish, Stanley Kowalski-esque, mechanic husband Louie (David Denman). But he can be a bully and is not the missing piece of the puzzle for her, if you know what I mean. Agnes is also devoted to her adolescent sons Ziggy (Bubba Weiler) and Gabe (Austin Abrams), who take her for granted. One day, Agnes, who is in large part the household’s scullery maid, receives a thousand-piece puzzle in the mail as a gift, and before you know it, she has put it together without a second thought.
Eventually, Agnes takes the train from the suburbs to Grand Central Station, this film’s equivalent of the Emerald City, and meets Robert, who owns a Village townhouse and has a room full of puzzles. When he realizes what a great talent this (actually very attractive) mousy woman is, he is smitten.
One day, Agnes, who is Catholic, like all her family members, arrives with a smudge of ash on her forehead and tries to explain Ash Wednesday to this New York City maharaja. Together, Agnes and Robert enter the National Jigsaw Puzzle Competition. But the truth is the prize is Agnes’ heart. “Puzzle” often comes across as Tennessee Williams-lite. But Macdonald and Khan make it sing.
(“Puzzle” contains profanity.)