Summary

Problemista blends surrealism, comedy, and empathy to critique the US immigration system in a visually entertaining and thought-provoking way.
The film explores the value of art, navigating complex characters and systems with nuance while delivering a compelling message about perseverance.
By embracing inner strength and challenging existing structures, Problemista encourages viewers to see beyond the familiar and advocate for change.

I went into Problemista with a clear idea of what I thought I was getting. The trailer sells a surrealist rendering of the American immigration experience, with fantastical pops of color, unsuccessful visa applicants who disappear on the spot, and a formidable Tilda Swinton with eyes that sometimes glow red. It’s a package of weirdness, comedy, and commentary that A24’s marketing department is good at turning into an easy pill to swallow, as if the reach for a certain kind of uniqueness is now familiar. People might even walk away from it thinking that expectation was met.

Directed by Julio Torres, Problemista is a comedy film that sees eccentric toy inventor Alejandro trying to make a name for himself in New York City but failing to bring any of his creations to life. With his work visa nearly run out, he winds up working for one of the New York art scene’s outcasts to stay in the U.S., navigating a complex immigration system.ProsEntertaining, both visually and comedicallyCreates well-rounded, complex charactersA compelling exploration of the value of artSurrealist takedown of the US immigration system that’s grounded in empathy

Problemista just wears that movie like a coat; Julio Torres (writer, director, and star) wields familiarity to make his film accessible. But I’d wager his stance on today’s movies is similar to his protagonist Alejandro’s view of toys: Wonderful, but “a little bit too preoccupied with, um… fun.” Alejandro’s ideas are often to make small but meaningful tweaks to established toys that force a shift in our perspective on them, and Torres’ film takes the same approach — this is, in a way, the surrealist mode. But if such works are usually mind-expanding, this targets the heart.

Problemista Critiques Systems, But Its Characters Are The Real Point
Tilda Swinton’s Elizabeth is much more than she initially seems.

Alejandro’s journey to visa sponsorship is Kafkaesque, if Kafka’s primary drivers were empathy and optimism. At the outset, he works for a company that (in one of my favorite touches) offers cryogenic services exclusively to terminally ill artists. The technology to wake them up hasn’t been invented yet (legally, their service is a form of euthanasia), but their business model lets them continue to charge for keeping the cryo tube powered and stored. When Ale loses that job, he has only one month to find a new sponsor. Somewhere, an hourglass bearing his name is turned over.

Hope arrives in the form of Elizabeth (Swinton), an art critic and wife of Bobby (RZA), the frozen artist Ale had been overseeing. It is a fragile, difficult hope — she is disorganized, demanding, and prone to lashing out at the poor, unsuspecting representatives of whichever entity has drawn her ire. In modern terms, she is a Karen. In the visual language of the movie, she is the monster hiding in the cave that Alejandro’s wandering hero is compelled to enter. But, if Ale can manage to arrange a show for Bobby’s egg-focused paintings, she might sponsor his visa.

Obstacles, as long as they’re surmountable, are good for us. We might never learn to see beyond the walls of our comfortable, familiar existence without them.

There’s a version of Problemista that makes Elizabeth an arm of its political critique, with US policy forcing Alejandro to depend on the whims of an erratic individual. This is part of her, but she is much, much more, in a way that no real person can be reduced to the role they play in anyone else’s life. Swinton’s performance captures the messy swirl of emotion motivating her behavior without rendering her purely sympathetic. Our position toward her can oscillate between condemnation and support within a single scene. She is not bound to her characterization in the film’s storybook framework.

Torres, like Ale, sees the totality of her right away, and this is the magic of what his movie achieves. Despite successfully satirizing immigration law, thoughtless, predatory corporations, and even Craigslist (Larry Owens), there is a clear-eyed distinction between these systems and the human beings who exist within them. The surreal imagery and narration (from Isabella Rossellini, who should narrate everything) only clarifies this contrast. Problemista invokes the simplicity of myth without ever letting its characters become simplistic. Representatives are never just representatives, but people with their own feelings and values.

Problemista Makes A Compelling Case For The Value Of Art
And for the power of asking for a manager.

This unwillingness to be reductive gives its critique nuance, sending up the absurdities of immigrating to the US while leaving room to appreciate how facing those obstacles makes immigrants stronger. But Elizabeth’s way of moving through the world emerges as a surprising focal point. Yes, we feel for those she bludgeons with her words over problems they are (usually) not responsible for. But, the movie suggests there’s method in her madness. Systems may be to blame, but they are faceless; chatbots and automated phone services are impervious to our grievances. Find a person, and you find hope for change.

This, somewhat paradoxically, is Problemista’s great message to the disenfranchised: Embrace your inner Karen. It may be unreasonable to expect everything and everyone to bend to your whim, and there’s room for more empathy than can be found in Elizabeth’s blunt-force antagonism. But if everything is rigged against you, and you’re truly determined to make it work anyway, find someone with the power to change things and complain about it until they do. Do it right, and you might even change things enough to make the road easier for the people who come after you.

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Whether everyone who sees this movie will appreciate its layers and hear its messages is another matter, and one Torres is equally interested in. Art and artists are all over Problemista, undervalued ones especially, and there’s a direct line between their dogged perseverance and an immigrant’s. For both, the risk of going unseen is high. But as Ale’s artist mother, Dolores (Catalina Saavedra), ultimately articulates, whether someone’s art will be appreciated matters less than the fact that it can be. Even criticism, as an act of truly seeing, gets some love here.

Pull at that thread, and this project’s organizing principles come into view. Obstacles, as long as they’re surmountable, are good for us. We might never learn to see beyond the walls of our comfortable, familiar existence without them. And they don’t have to come from a series of catch-22s with life-and-death stakes — art can be an obstacle. Some people, maybe most, will never engage with Bobby’s eggs, or Ale’s toys, or Problemista. But someone will. And if they can learn to see that artwork in a total, empathetic way, there’s hope they turn that gaze on the unseen people around them, too.

Problemista

releases in limited theaters March 1 before expanding nationwide March 22.

Problemista Director Julio Torres Release Date March 13, 2023 Studio(s) A24 , Fruit Tree Distributor(s) A24 Writers Julio Torres Cast Julio Torres , Tilda Swinton , RZA , Isabella Rossellini , Greta Lee , Catalina Saavedra Runtime 98 minutes