When the movie “Problemista” first ran here in April at the Columbus Theatre, I was unaware it had a local angle; I just knew I wanted to see the latest from former SNL writer Julio Torres (remember Papyrus?). The film follows Alejandro, an aspiring toy designer, who moves from his native El Salvador to New York City to pursue his dreams, perhaps even working at Hasbro. The struggles of scraping by in the big city is not new territory, but the tone and look of this production are wonderfully weird (Torres also directed). It’s fun to look at and frequently hilarious.
So while Mattel may have rocked the box office with “Barbie,” Hasbro is now hooked into the art house circles who eschew mainstream comedies and embrace every eccentric Tilda Swinton performance. For now, the shareholders will have to be content with their place at the cool kids’ table and hope that the creatives at Hasbro can figure out how the hell to merchandise this movie.
Tilda certainly turns it all the way up here. She plays Elizabeth, an art critic determined to exhibit her dead husband’s work and hires Alejandro as a freelance assistant. Alejandro is tasked with collecting Bobby’s paintings while navigating Elizabeth’s volatile temper, as well as solving his own immigration problems. As an actor, Julio Torres generally presents a dialed-down, flat affect that sets in high relief the idiosyncrasies of the people who inhabit his surreal world. This cast includes Greta Lee and RZA as Bobby, the cryogenically frozen artist.
The work of Julio Torres might appear at first to be trying too hard to be quirky. I would just urge people to give it a try — this goes for his HBO series “Fantasmas” as well. His version of modern life, the modern workplace in particular, are sure to connect at some point. And there’s some great inside material for artists. A favorable review in The New York Times notes:
Torres himself was an archivist for the artist John Heliker and gleefully vents about the database software FileMaker Pro.
Both “Problemista” and the series “Fantasmas” are available on Max.
Rated R. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
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Alejandro keeps applying to the ‘Talent Incubator Program’ which does not seem to exist at the real Hasbro Careers page. He keeps getting an automated reply.