Torres’ surrealist debut feature biting, incisive satire of nation
As our unofficial poet laureate Taylor Swift once confessed: “It’s me, hi,
I’m the problem, it’s me.” Having big dreams can turn into a problem; just existing in the world can be a problem, too. In Julio Torres’ earnest, absurdist directorial debut “Problemista,” he suggests that becoming the problem yourself is the only way to make it through the nightmarish maze that is the American dream.
Torres introduces himself alongside this quandary in “Problemista,” though the Emmy-nominated writer for “Saturday Night Live” and creator and star of the HBO series “Los Espookys” will need no introduction for some. Torres, who wrote, directed and stars in “Problemista,” is from El Salvador, and his mother is an architect and designer who collaborated on his 2019 HBO comedy special “My Favorite Shapes.”
In “Problemista,”
Torres plays Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador living in New York City, whose mother, played by Catalina Saavedra, is an architect and designer. Alejandro dreams up strange little toys while in the process of applying to a talent incubator program at Hasbro and juggling another job at a company that’s sponsoring his visa, a cryogenic preservation business called FreezeCorp.
It’s at FreezeCorp that Alejandro meets the woman who will turn his life upside down and in doing so, shapes the central philosophy of “Problemista.” Art critic Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) is the wife of Alejandro’s frozen charge, a painter named Bobby Ascencio
(RZA) who chose to freeze his body when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Elizabeth believes FreezeCorp will eventually figure out how to reanimate Bobby. In the meantime, she’s got to get organized. That’s where Alejandro comes in.
Alejandro is soon let go from the company, and in Elizabeth he finds a dangerously aligned spirit: They both desperately want something, and possess just enough deranged optimism to go after it. He agrees to assist her in exhibiting an art show of Bobby’s work, and she promises she’ll sponsor his visa, a necessity for him to stay in the country.
With her magenta mop and frazzled demeanor, Elizabeth moves through the world like a battlefield, terrorizing waiters and customer service representatives, and constantly fighting the everyday technology that she is convinced will fix everything.
Alejandro has shaped his demeanor to be pleasant and nonthreatening; he agrees to everything in order to be accepted. His innocence has been cultivated by his artist mother, who created a fantasy world for him in the jungles of El Salvador, but Alejandro’s naivete is also a necessary delusion
to keep traversing the preposterously complex U.S. economic and immigration systems designed to keep one out rather than welcome anyone in.
This biting satire slices open the art world and immigration system with a thousand tiny paper cuts. As a filmmaker, Torres animates Alejandro’s experience with magical realism, turning phone conversations and internet searches into fantastical sequences.
Elizabeth becomes Alejandro’s foe, holding him hostage with the promise of granting him acceptance into the U.S. He soon realizes that what she has granted him is the gift of permission to become a problem, to take up space, make noise and demand what you want, and to find the power in that.
It’s a story unique to Torres, but deeply relatable to anyone who has ever strived to achieve something. “Problemista” is a heartfelt piece about how we make it through the world with desperation, hope and the hardearned lessons we find in each other.
MPA rating: R (for some language and sexual content)
Running time: 1:38
How to Watch: In theaters