Alejandro (Julio Torres) leaves his home in El Salvador and his mother (Catalina Saavedra) behind to immigrate to New York City, following his dream to become a toy designer for Hasbro.  Arriving in the big city, however, puts Alejandro in the center of a massive labyrinth as he tries to navigate his path toward a work visa to avoid deportation.  At the center of the labyrinth is Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), a dragoness of sorts, a scorned and widowed artist who is trying to book an exhibition of her late husband, Bobby’s (RZA), work if only she could get FileMaker Pro to cooperate. 

Written and directed by Julio Torres, Problemista debuted at the 2023 edition of South by Southwest, but was not released theatrically to general audiences until almost a year later as its summer date was pushed on account of the labor strikes.  Sandwiched between Love Lies Bleeding and Civil War, the A24 release was criminally under-screened by the indie studio, presumably spread thin from the backlog.  Hopefully, the film will find its audience on streaming as, despite being Torres’ directorial debut and first feature writing credit, it strikes an incredible balance of humor and sentiment.  While the story is thematically a very personal one, audiences from all walks of life will be lured in by the bubbly nature and find themselves charmed by Alejandro’s persistence and passion. 

Though Torres is the undeniable lead of the film, Problemista cannot even begin to be discussed without establishing the chaotic presence of Swinton’s Elizabeth; a woman moving a million miles a minute without a map, and it is up to the world around her to keep up.  She is a scene stealer, sure, but she does not eclipse the scene as she never overextends in the role.  By nature, she is supposed to bring all eyes to her from her loud, barking antics, eccentric clothing, her camera flashlight which is perpetually on, and her weeks-overdue pink dye job, but her work is always in service of the film and of Alejandro’s journey. 

Alejandro’s journey began as a young boy in El Salvador, living with his designer mother, Dolores, who wheels him through their extensively decorated property in a wagon to his playhouse.  As if reading from a storybook, Isabella Rossellini narrates over the opening and will return across the runtime of the film to fill us in on some of the inner struggles facing Alejando in his quest for a work visa.  Torres utilizes many engaging motifs to illustrate the struggles facing millions of people in the United States, today, as they work through their various avenues toward citizenship; all of them tedious, drawn out, expensive, and overseen by a purposefully underfunded and backlogged department.  The hourglass is returned to time and again to add a sense of urgency to Alejandro’s predicament as he only has 30 days to find a sponsor or be forced to return to El Salvador.  There is also a maze that leads him through a vicious cycle of needing money for his lawyer, but not being able to get money without a job, not being able to get a job without his visa, and not being able to get his visa without his lawyer.  His is just one story, and though it does not delve too deeply into the tangle of laws that guide the immigration process, it conveys the easy-to-be-discouraged sentiment that so many in the process may find themselves plagued by at least once in their years long endeavor. 

Looking now at Torres’ performance, he is akin to a ball of silly putty, morphing and reflecting whatever he needs to do to get by in any situation while never getting the attention or appreciation of something like Playdoh.  There is no doubt that this is Torres’ story and that love and care is present in every scene.  He fills Alejandro with an incredible amount of love, compassion, hope, and frustration so that even at his lowest moments such as subletting his room and living on the sofa, Alejandro always has this resolute smile as he bounces and bobs his way through the bustling city.  It is all just temporary because he knows he will land that job at Hasbro one of these days, and one day soon.  His confidence and resilience are inspiring, especially in the constant face of setbacks, but importantly, Torres walks the line of making sure that Alejandro is neither oblivious nor cocky.  He instead is one of the most genuinely felt characters in recent memory and it is impossible not to sympathize with him on a deeply human level without the film explicitly trying to manipulate us into doing so.  Strip back all the Crayola-toned colors lens by Fredrik Wenzel, the building block aesthetic lent to New York City by production designer Katie Byron, and the jack-in-the-box score by Robert Ouyang Rusli, this is a story about a young man in pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness; The American Dream – and what is more inspiring than that? 

One of the other returning metaphors that Problemista employs is the manifestation of Craig’s List (Larry Owens), a DSL-summoned djinn who offers, instead of wishes, cash, objects, odd jobs, whatever your heart desires.  It leads Alejandro down various paths to get enough cash for his rent, his lawyer, and just his general survival in the city, but towards the end of the second act, it leads him to a man with a cleaning boy fetish (James Seol).  Alejandro rejects the offer at first, but eventually accepts after his account is overdrawn and what occurs is a scene that feels set up for laughs but is just incredibly sad.  Setting aside Torres’ own sexuality, for much of the film, Alejandro’s can be speculated but it is never directly addressed until he goes to leave the man’s apartment and leans in to kiss him.  The man is a bit bewildered – the ad said nothing about kissing – but he pays Alejandro anyway and the boy leaves. It is the only flicker of romance in the entire film and it is totally transactional, something that many of his generation may be able to relate to given the incredible speed at which the cost of living is rising against stagnant wages, the worsening ROI of higher education thanks to their ballooning costs, or in Alejandro’s case, the astronomical cost of immigration that starting a family has become a financial impossibility; The American Nightmare – and what is more depressing than that? 

Problemista is an incredibly balanced and nuanced film, especially from a first-time director, albeit one that has worked on numerous projects before.  It is loaded with so many ideas and tangents as if Torres was afraid that he would not receive the opportunity to make another film, but hopefully, that is not the case.  He shows the full spectrum of life, the highs and lows, and the zany colors and characters do not get in the way of the heartfelt message of the film.  It is a delightful surprise that warms the hearts of its audience, and while the delivery is such a uniquely personal one to Torres, the message is universal and anyone who has ever felt lost or adrift in life will be able to sympathize with Alejandro on his journey to be who he wants to be.