Alejandro is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador struggling to bring his unusual ideas to life in NY. As time runs out on his work visa, a job assisting an erratic art-world outcast becomes his only hope to stay in the country.
“Problemista” marks the feature film debut of writer/director Julio Torres. Torres also stars in the movie as Alejandro, Ale for short. Alejandro – an introverted oddball – has come to New York City from El Salvador with the dream of designing toys, eyeing a position at Hasbro. His unique design ideas, interspersed throughout the movie, feature twists on already established toys, each intended to teach children new life lessons.
Unfortunately for Alejandro, the Hasbro application can only be filled in with an address within the United States (or a US territory), leading him to land a job at FreezeCorp, a company that freezes clients to be re-awakened at a later date. There, he works as an archivist for frozen artist Bobby (RZA), introducing Alejandro to Bobby’s art critic wife, Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) – an abrasive, belligerent (and also oddball) Karen type. The casting of Swinton makes me wonder whether Torres was influenced by “Abre los Ojos”/“Vanilla Sky” for the company FreezeCorp. Swinton played a role in “Vanilla Sky,” the remake of “Abre los Ojos,” and FreezeCorp’s business is similar to the company in those two films.
Following an incident at work, Alejandro is fired. The event also terminates Alejandro’s US sponsorship, leaving the clock ticking for him to find a new job and sponsor before being forced to return home to El Salvador. Torres uses a recurring visual of an hourglass to represent the quickly passing time. Fate, however, is on Alejandro’s side. As he leaves the office, he runs into Elizabeth (who is in the middle of another one of her tirades). She eventually agrees to sponsor him if Alejandro can help her create an art show for Bobby’s work.
The first half of Torres’ film has a good rhythm and flow. It is sometimes odd, like the characters that populate it, but it is always creative. Many of the film’s conflicts occur in various phantasmagoric ways. Torres uses these fantasy elements to shed a comedic light on the hardships of an immigrant trying his best to follow his dreams and live legally in the United States.
The lead performances won me over in this one. Torres and Swinton are both excellent in their roles. Swinton is especially good at making her character’s lunacy come and go like the flip of a light switch. There’s also a good rapport between these two unlikely companions. However, it’s hard to tell if Alejandro’s actions are entirely authentic since he needs Elizabeth to sponsor him. Even with that need, I think there was something of a connection between the two characters.
“Problemista” isn’t without its share of problems. The jokes don’t always land. Some sequences feel like they don’t mesh with the rest of the movie, resulting in some pacing issues in the second half. Plus, it’s never entirely clear what Alejandro’s skill set is or how old he is supposed to be. Torres is in his 30s, but the character he portrays seems significantly younger than that. Alejandro’s got the mousiness of someone in his teens or early twenties. Toward the film’s ending, Alejandro’s character has an abrupt mannerism change, but we don’t see any gradual growth warranting it. It’s as sudden and abrasive as Elizabeth’s behavior.
All things considered, I found “Problemista” to be a pretty good movie. Its quirkiness doesn’t totally work for me, but the performances from Torres and Swinton make up for any slack. “Problemista” is a film that is worth your time.
In Theaters Friday, March 15th
