Problemista – As in, Problem Solver
Problemista is an A24 movie. Occasionally, people will act as if it’s absurd to notice that the production company has a vision because people can be limited in how they interpret that vision (they have produced or distributed nearly as many comedies as horror), but there are still some signs in what they look for – the slightly off-kilter but overall approachable, the heady but not impenetrable, the artistic but not necessarily abstract. Problemista is a very funny comedy in this vein. The film, written, directed by, and starring Julio Torres (writer on SNL, creator of Los Espookys) and narrated by Isabella Rossellini is a story of dreams – a story of desire, perseverance, and of course the hurdles of dealing with the arcane institutions which make up the U.S. state and economic apparatus. Problemista means “troublemaker” and what our protagonist (Julio Torres as Alejandro aka “Ale”) navigates through the film are problems he must solve through cool-headed optimism, trouble he finds himself in because he wants more for his life than the world will easily give him.
Ale is a young man raised in El Salvador by his mother Dolores (Catalina Saavedra Pérez), a sculptor and metalwork artist who tried to give him everything, leading him to pursue the ambitious dream of making offbeat and social commentariat children’s toys in New York City. Ale works at a cryogenics company attending the capsule of the artist Bobby (RZA) and ends up working as a personal assistant for Bobby’s eccentric, erratic, explosive life partner, art critic Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton). They grow together over time as Ale pursues permanent residency and a talent incubator program at Hasbo, navigating the maze of the American immigration system, met by passive-aggressive and apathetic artsy roommates, the online gig economy of Craigslist (where Abbott Elementary’s Larry Owens shines as a human embodiment), Elizabeth’s ambitions, mood swings, and old grudges (bringing in Greta Lee as Dalia, an artist whose career she upset with a bad review), and more.
When Problemista first started, I though it felt like mixing Barbie’s tendency of satirizing companies while advertising for them, especially Hasbro[1] with Poor Things and Beau Is Afraid’s respective interest in absurd satire of reality. There’s the Poor Things experience of learning about a world that’s new to you and the Beau Is Afraid experience of constant befuddlement, though Ale is a much better improviser than Beau. Over the course of the film, it establishes itself as more separate in tone, but thematic overlap remains. While completely tonally disparate, it also reminds of Imperial Dreams in focusing on the tremendous barriers people face moving through the world from a structurally marginalized position (in that movie, being a former convict trying to reintegrate into society; in this movie, being an immigrant). Like those movies, especially Beau Is Afraid – which is somehow, or in some ways, the most grounded of the three in comparison – there is flirtation between physical placement in the literal and metaphorical world, most especially the depiction of Ale as a knight facing Elizabeth as a dragon in a low-tech community theater-style costume in a cave.
I thought Problemista had interesting things to say but remained constricted by the socially ubiquitous fear of moral didacticism. It wants to be about the difficulties of immigration but is also focused on the virtues of patience and a can-do attitude, i.e., perpetuating American dream mythmaking by having Ale get a relatively low level job at Hasbro as a triumph against all his hurdles and after holding onto his dream by sidestepping the opportunity to be a paralegal (and of course he becomes later very successful so he can cryogenically freeze himself). Tilda Swinton’s performance was great, her character a terror, her lessons to Ale a mixed bag for him to pick through. The dream sequence imagery was impressive in its moderate technique; Ale bounding around as he walked like a puppet on strings contributed to the fable-like nature of the story and literalized the pep in his step. Some of the most fun imagery expresses the impossible trap, a vertical-lateral maze, of his pursuit of stability to make money to get legal permission to stay in the country.
Problemista is good but not great. It has some utility, some fire, some artistic novelty and colorful imagery expressing the difficulties of making one’s way in the world. If Problemista had foregone product placement, perhaps it could make more cutting criticisms (one of my favorite scenes features an exploration of the illogical nature of late fees and the unethical and illogical nature of companies putting holds on deposits and then taking late fees, but the credits sort of tongue-in-cheekily note that the policy of the bank in question changed somewhat between the filming and release of the picture). If it had come out in 2022 it would have stood out more, but as it is, the shadow of Barbie (which I like, with some reservations) and of Beau Is Afraid (which I did not enjoy, but sort of respect) hang over the film. Yet there is nothing to be done about that. As an individual experience, I like it more than either of those films – I didn’t roll my eyes even once during Problemista. It feels more adult than the former, and far more interesting and less navel-gazey than the latter. I do find it more incisive, but it is missing something in the sense of philosophical vitality or ideological dynamism in the way that its ending comes together. So, if you liked either of those movies, watch this one. If you didn’t watch either of those movies, this is still worth watching. Don’t expect it to change your life, but it may enrich it. [2]
[1] As opposed to Mattel
[2] I think I’m giving this a 3 on Letterboxd. I’m trying to be harsher on there, as if it matters. I’m toying with the idea of doing ratings on here, but then I have to work up a scale and explain it.
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