This review is part of Honi Soit’s continued coverage of the 71st Sydney Film Festival, 5-16 June. Read the rest of our reviews here.
Problemista (2024) directed, written and starred in by Julio Torres uses deadpan humour and absurdism to capture the immigrant experience within the American immigration system that is so forcefully against them.
Problemista revolves around young El-Salvadoran immigrant Alejandro Martinez (Julio Torres) who moves to America to work at Hasbro where he’ll design toys which focus less on ‘fun’. What follows is Alejandro’s expedition to survive as an immigrant after losing his visa sponsorship, which leads him to an insufferable British art critic, Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton). Swinton’s character constantly creates problems for herself, but promises to sponsor him if he helps her curate an art exhibition of her frozen husband Bobby’s (RZA) artworks. Alejandro also has to face the sea-witch that is Craigslist, hopping from cash gig to cash gig and his indirect competition as Elizabeth’s assistant, a Columbia University nepo-baby by the name of Bingham (James Scully).
For someone who isn’t familiar with Torres’ previous work as a former SNL scribe or his roles in Los Espookys (2019), his humour may not be immediately compelling. He uses some of his material from his comedy specials in Problemista, and incorporates them into the plot, including his apologetic veganism, which add to the authenticity of the narrative and Alejandro’s characterisation.
By far, Problemista is the funniest movie I saw at the Sydney Film Festival, by which I laughed at the “I stand with Bank of America” bit for probably three whole minutes after, and to the point of not focusing on the subsequent sequence. Other stellar moments were Elizabeth’s iPhone flashlight that gets left on for the duration of the movie and the car toy that has slowly deflating tires, therefore children have to play knowing that they are running out of time.
Problemista also features Isabella Rosselini’s warm narration, a perfect addition to the fairytale-like quality all throughout. As if occupying the role of the audience’s mother, Rosselini reads to us a scary bedtime story of dealing with expensive and unnecessarily complicated spreadsheet softwares and horrible bosses with fruit punch coloured hair and severely outgrown roots.
Another way Torres creates the fairytale of Problemista is through the fantastical sound design, using a choir to create haunting and hilariously timed sound effects. The film is at its essence Torres’ childhood dream which is interrupted with the cruel reality of the world. Through this, his optimism shines through and audiences learn that Torres is challenging the limitations of visual and comedic storytelling. In fact, there are several nods to absurdist directors like Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman without ever feeling derivative.
The film’s comedy reads almost as if it were a coping mechanism of the ‘impossible’ immigrant system in America, as emphasised through the concept of time. This is accompanied by the surrealist aspects which amplified the tension and left me fidgeting in my seat, as I nervously rooted for Alejandro.
Time is represented as an hourglass that tells you how long you have left until your visa expires, and so does your existence in America. The character of Bobby also embodies the nature of time as he, through a cryogenics corporation, freezes himself with an unknown amount of time he would come back with “hope that he would wake up in the future”.
Torres said in his interview episode with the Next Best Picture podcast, “My instinct is to do more, more, more and I think that that has a little bit to do with not taking for granted the chance that I got to make a movie… So I don’t want to blow this by playing it safe.” This is exactly what makes Problemista so great, he pushes the limits of absurdity and contrasts them with his dry-wit humour and cynicism while creating a beautiful narrative around perseverance and passion.
It is necessary to note that Problemista is an A24 film produced by Emma Stone, and so Stone uses her star power to bring Torres’ vision to life, and gives hope for more weird and tasteful films to gain greater traction. Problemista speaks from a unique perspective, told in a whimsical and compelling way which I hope proceeds in more Torres and A24 features.
