-Justin Nordell
If you’re a Saturday Night Live fan, then you more than likely have a favorite commercial. They’ve been a mainstay of the sketch comedy series for decades, and every member of the SNL writers’ room dreams of having their own commercial on some day. One of my personal favorites from the last decade is Wells For Boys, a pretend Fisher Price plastic well for “sensitive little boys” who long to be understood. The Emma Stone starring commercial has such a specific tone and point of view that elicits a laugh from me every time, and I immediately began following its creator Julio Torres. Now, seven years later, Julio has written, produced, directed, and starred in his first feature film Problemista, and it brings so much more poignancy and funny than he was ever able to on SNL.
Opening in El Salvador (with narrator Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet), we meet young Alejandro and his mother Dolores (Catalina Saavedra, The Maid) who live in their own little world… literally. Dolores has kept Alejandro in a fairy tale fantasy for most of his life that quickly shatters when Alejandro (Julio Torres, “Los Espookys”) moves to America to pursue his job of being a toy creator for Hasbro. Not getting the internship of his dreams, Alejandro takes a job at a cryogenics company to satisfy his visa needs for the U.S. government. After accidentally unplugging Bobby (RZA, American Gangster) the frozen artist he’s assigned to, Alejandro is summarily fired, triggering a 30 day time period in which he has to find a new job or be deported – forever losing his dream of being a famous Hasbro toy designer.
Luckily, the man he almost unfroze has a high maintenance wife Elizabeth (a never better Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin), who happens to be an art critic in desperate need of an assistant. Following her back to her home/studio/office/dump, Alejandro shows that he can be of use while also correctly sensing that Elizabeth is a chaos gremlin of a human being who can’t take any responsibility for her own actions… but desperate times call for desperate measures. Elizabeth desperately wants to curate a show of Bobby’s paintings to celebrate his genius (and make a few dollars), and dangles a carrot in front of Alejandro that if he can help make that happen, she will sign for his visa.
Problemista is an absolute triumph marrying the modern immigrant experience, the toxicity of working in the arts, the plight of being a Bank of America customer, a brilliant Tilda Swinton, and the masterful whimsy of Julio Torres. Taking the sensitive little boy from his SNL commercial and giving him a feature length film, Torres has crafted something so personal and yet universal in his American fairy tale. There’s a childlike wonder to the world Alejandro sees, even as we clearly view the dangers around him, and yet his surreal vantage is not only wildly entertaining but provides a poignancy that I’m not sure will be surpassed by another film this year. Problemista is an immensely special film that I can’t wait to share and revisit.
Grade: A
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