Page

Problemista

Watch trailer

02:30

Problemista

Save

Summary

Comedy starring Julio Torres and Tilda Swinton. Salvadoran toy designer Alejandro is struggling to make it in New York City, not least with his visa requirements. Things go from bad to worse when he is fired from his job at a cryogenics lab, but help comes in the dubious form of an eccentric and volatile art critic, whose deceased husband has been frozen at the lab.

Ad

Powered By

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Emma Simmonds

Writer/director Julio Torres (Saturday Night Live) makes his feature debut with this tremendously charming, wildly surreal comedy, in which he also stars. Torres plays Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador trying to make it in big, bad New York City, but finding himself thwarted at every turn. An unlikely saviour presents herself in English art critic Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), a fearsome, intensely demanding and paranoid woman, who is trying to raise the funds to keep her artist husband Bobby (RZA) cryogenically frozen. Elizabeth offers Alejandro the sponsorship he needs to remain in the country, in exchange for him helping her mount an exhibition of Bobby's idiosyncratic paintings. There's eccentricity aplenty in a film that boasts Isabella Rossellini as its narrator, adds a Latin flavour to its Charlie Kaufman-esque flights of fancy and shrewdly highlights the injustice and absurdity of the US immigration system. Sporting a gruff West Country accent and shaggy scarlet locks, Swinton is a hoot, with her spiky, enraged Elizabeth and the adorable Alejandro making for an odd couple to savour.

imdb-square

6.7/10

How to watch

Loading

Credits

Cast

rolenameAlejandroJulio TorresElizabethTilda SwintonBobbyRZA NarratorIsabella RosselliniDoloresCatalina SaavedraBinghamJames Scully

Show more

Crew

rolenameDirectorJulio Torres

Details

Released on

2024-11-18

Languages

English | Spanish

Guidance

Swearing, sexual references

Formats

Colour

News & features about Problemista

Ad

Ad

Ad