Torres’ absurdist directorial debut ‘Problemista’ is cutting, incisive satire
As our unofficial poet laureate Taylor Swift once shamefully confessed: “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” Sometimes having big dreams can be a real problem; sometimes just existing in the world can be a problem, too. In Julio Torres’ earnest and absurdist directorial debut “Problemista,” he suggests that perhaps becoming the problem is the only way to make it through the nightmarish maze that is the American dream.
Torres introduces himself alongside this tricky quandary in “Problemista,” though the Emmy-nominated writer for “Saturday Night Live,” and the 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, who dreams up strange little toys with mundane issues, is in the process of applying to a talent incubator program at Hasbro while working at another company that’s sponsoring his visa, a cryogenic preservation company 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 wholeheartedly that FreezeCorp will eventually figure out how to reanimate Bobby, and in the meantime, she’s got to get organized, and that’s where Alejandro comes in.
After an unfortunate mishap, Alejandro is 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 putting together an art show of Bobby’s work (exclusively paintings of eggs) and she promises she’ll sponsor his visa, a necessity for him to stay in the country and also, at some point, to earn money.
With her magenta mop and frazzled demeanor, Elizabeth moves through the world like a battlefield, terrorizing waiters and customer service representatives, and constantly fighting technology on which she barely has a grasp, but is convinced will fix everything. She’s fixated on a niche computer program called FileMaker Pro that becomes a running joke.
Alejandro has shaped his demeanor to be soft, pleasant and nonthreatening; he nods yes and agrees to everything. Torres gives Alejandro a strange little jog for his gait, and his hair has a perpetual cowlick, which adds to his childlike demeanor.
“Problemista” is a cutting, incisive satire that slices the art world and immigration system open with a thousand tiny paper cuts. It is deeply funny, stacked with jokes and an ensemble cast who color in this world. Torres animates Alejandro’s experience with magical realism, turning conversations and internet searches into fantastically surreal sequences.
Elizabeth becomes Alejandro’s foe, a many-headed hydra of making his life a living hell with demands for CD-ROMs and overnight packages, holding him hostage with the promise of granting him acceptance into this country. He fights and fights, until he realizes that what she has granted him is the gift of permission to become a problem, to take up space, make noise, demand what you want, and to find the power in that.
This absurdist comedy becomes a moving piece about how we make it through the world with desperation and hope, and the hard-earned lessons we find in each other.