A24 has been around for a decade or so. They have allowed new filmmakers to blossom. Filmmakers like Barry Jenkins, Trey Edward Shults, and David Lowery are just a few filmmakers who made a name for themselves working under the A24 banner. The latest filmmaker who has a bright future is Julio Torres. He wrote, starred in, and directed this quirky odd comedy that might turn some people off but I resonated with it strangely enough.

Alejandro “Ali” for short (Julio Torres) is a struggling young man who works for a cryogenic company. He has better aspersions though and wants to create toys for Hasbro. When a woman whose boyfriend is cryogenically frozen comes into the business she acts out and gets upset. Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton) causes trouble but for some reason, Ali is interested in her. He thinks he can help her but in reality, she ends up helping him as well. They needed each other more than they realized. 

Tilda Swinton has played a lot of weird characters in her career. Sometimes three characters in one film as she played in Suspiria. This time around she is playing one of the most annoying obnoxious characters I’ve ever seen in a film. She goes into stores and restaurants and causes problems, as in she sends food back or complains about it. She is the worst customer because she’s every service worker’s nightmare. She has a method to her madness though. It’s not an act. Swinton embodies this type of person perfectly. She’s an Academy Award winner, is there any doubt she could be this type of character? No!

Julio Torres is relatively unknown to me but he is someone I’m going to remember going forward. He portrays this character as a shy guy who gets pushed around a lot. He just Ed needed someone like Swinton’s character to give him a chance to spread his wings. He has a crazy dream but it’s no different than anybody else. I resonated with his journey to some degree. I had a crazy dream like this young man and so have so many others I know. He kept fighting and clawing his way and just needed someone to help him come out of his shell. Torres has a weird walk and is so representative of this awkward character.

Besides the more straightforward stuff in this movie regarding the main character’s motivations and so forth this film has some strange things going on in its direction and production design. There are scenes where Torres goes into a maze of his mind because he can’t figure out what’s going on in his life. He’s confused about where his life is going and that’s representative of some of the weird existential and peripheral things that go on. These extra peripheral things are a bit much but they make sense in the context of the story.

This movie has a feel of Being John Malkovich or Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s plain to see Torres was inspired by these great films when he wrote the screenplay for this movie. He put himself out there and made this movie to show his story and an odd and strange side of himself. Add in this crazy wacky lady at his side most of the time and you have one of the most off-the-wall movies I’ve seen in recent years. People are going to relate to this character though. I feel strongly about this.

Problemista is one of the strangest movies I’ve seen in recent years but it’s not the strangest film ever. It has the feel of two great indie films from the past and as an A24 film, it makes complete sense. They have been investing in young or upcoming filmmakers such as Torres for years now. The combination of him and Swinton was something I didn’t know I needed until I got it. We as viewers got it in spades. Comedy aside though there is a genuine story that I related to regarding this young man who has been disrespected in his life. I felt the same way for many years. This film reminded me I have to be who I am and keep striving to be better every day. Keep working on my craft and things will start to come my way. I feel a lot of people can resonate with this character and his journey. I really liked this film quite a bit.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen