The hero of “Problemista” sees the world differently. He is an aspiring toy designer named Alejandro, who thinks today’s toys are a lot of fun. He proposes a toy truck with deflated tires to teach children that they are short on time.
is the creation of Alejandro Julio Torres, who starred, directed and wrote “Problemista,” a distinct and very winning film from an up-and-coming artist who thrillingly explores the eccentric, eccentric mind of his own toy maker. it shows.
“Problemista” doesn’t sound like Wes Anderson-type over-the-top cynicism, but more like the surreal bursting joy of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” It also breaks space and time like the latter. It’s absolutely adorable.
It tells the story of Alejandro (Torres), an El Salvadoran immigrant desperate to work for Hasbro, but needs to extend his stay in New York by getting his work visa approved. At home his artistic mother tries to protect him from the rigors of life, but he is alone in a huge, unfriendly city full of trash. Isabella Rossellini explains, adding starry seriousness.
Torres plays an aspiring toy maker with a fragile soul who always tries to be friendly and dreamy. He is childlike, with funky bangs and a tuft of hair bouncing like an exclamation mark, always with a backpack, and walks in small uncertain steps, almost hopping like a small bird, as if he doesn’t want to make any impression. .
A twist of fate leads him into the orbit of Elizabeth, the widow of an artist who has been cryogenically frozen by FreezeCorp. To afford to keep her husband on ice, she must find and sell his disliked paintings – a 13-painting series of eggs – at various locations – and she needs Alejandro’s computer and gopher assistance. He sees it as a potential lifeline.
Tilda Swindon – a favorite of Wes Anderson – plays the Widow as an uncontrolled, self-involved, rude and frightening force of nature. She thinks people are yelling at her while she’s screaming, she can’t turn off the lights on her iPhone, she clashes with waiters over small things and she’s banned from Uber. Swindon is in its element here.
These two completely opposite souls need each other, and not just in a give-and-take way. She needs his calmness and foresight, and he needs her candor. “When they tell you you can only turn left or right, you tell them you are going up. Always send food back. Stand up for yourself,” she tells him.
Torres displays a Kafkaesque bent as he portrays the Byzantine obstacles of red tape that immigrants face, with Alejandro negotiating an imaginary office maze like a human rat opening vents to climb into sterile offices. In one scene, an immigrant who has been told he must leave the country suddenly disappears – poof!
The filmmaker also skewers the Catch-22 of another highly bureaucratic institution – banks. “I know there’s still one person out there and I know she can listen to me,” he pleads to a bank representative about a bullshit overdraft fee. Both organizations welcome people who have no margin for error.
Torres is a comedian and TV writer who worked on “Saturday Night Live” — his play for Ryan Gosling about how “Avatar” used the Papyrus font in a strange way is a new classic. He was also the creator of the quirky HBO sitcom “Los Espuquies.” He takes pleasure in the real thing and this film proves that he is one of the best.
If the hysterical weirdness about fonts is any indication, audiences won’t be surprised to find bizarre sequences about FileMaker Pro, misbehaving iPads, dropdown menus, and Ikea’s Billy bookcase. Craigslist is portrayed by a sinister man (Larry Owens), filled with junk, people proving strange and awkward and a tense phone call depicted as a knight in armor fighting a dragon. Customer service calls turn into horror movie chants and madness.
There is rich material in this absurdity: how immigrants and artists yearn to be seen, how modern systems eat people, how we try to cheat death and how technology never lives up to its promise. The film takes place more than 300 years in the future.
In that good future, we are sure they will talk about a big directorial venture from a talented filmmaker. Torres is just starting to mess with us.
The A24 release “Problemista” is rated R for “sexual content and some language”. Running time: 104 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 years of age required to be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.
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