If you’re an artist and you’ve ever had to put a show together, you know how difficult it can be to choose the pieces you want on display. But putting together a show for a not-quite-dead person? Well – that’s near impossible.
That’s the predicament Alejandro (Julio Torres) and Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) find themselves in throughout “Problemista.” In light of a terminal illness, Elizabeth’s husband Bobby (RZA) recently made the decision to freeze his body, hoping that future science might offer him a cure down the line. In order to continue to pay for Bobby’s cryostasis, Elizabeth wants to put together a show of his work – multiple paintings of giant eggs – and is hounding her new assistant Alejandro about what the structure should be.
Alejandro, who is originally from El Salvador, is our main character and desperately needs Elizabeth to sponsor his work visa. Hence, he puts up with more of her temper and antics than he probably should. Their latest disagreement is over the placement of one of Bobby’s unfinished pieces – Alejandro wants to use the piece at the end of the show, a suggestion that Elizabeth simply cannot fathom. But Alejandro likes the unresolved nature of that ending. It’s messy, sure, erratic, yes. But at the same time, it’s somehow full of hope.
One could use those same words to describe “Problemista,” directed, written by and starring Torres. “Problemista” blooms with inventiveness, using magical realism with a clever, modern sensibility to tell the story of how Alejandro comes into his own. The relationship between Elizabeth and Alejandro forms the center of the film, and the dynamics at play are tangled and complicated in the way that – despite the film’s fantastical bent – real life dynamics often are. But even if Torres’ magical world is laden with obstacles and hardship, there’s always a ray of sunshine waiting to break through the clouds.
Alejandro meets…
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