A24 Problemista Review: A Surreal Fairy Tale About Finding Your People

Each of comedian Julio Torres’ projects has spoken to his ability to tell stories shaped by both his distinctive imagination and his deep knowledge of the hyper-specific idiosyncrasies that make weird people interesting. In SNL sketches like “Wells for children,” and his ephemeral hbo series The Espookys, Torres created windows to absurd worlds that seemed like places you could only visit in your dreams. But with A24 troublemaker — which he wrote, directed and stars in: Torres uses his creative powers to paint a picture whose beauty is based on how real and emotionally honest it feels.

Inspired by Torres’ own experience immigrating to the US, troublemaker tells the story of Alejandro, an aspiring toy maker from El Salvador who travels to the United States in hopes of fulfilling his dream of working for Hasbro. As the only child of artist Dolores (Catalina Saavedra), Alejandro grows up experiencing his small corner of the world as a magical and vibrant place that fuels his unique imagination. When a young Alejandro (Logan J. Alarcón-Poucel) wants a life-size, castle-like playhouse where he can contemplate his feelings, Dolores uses her talents to make his dream come true, not only because she can but because she wants to. . make him understand that he is also capable of transforming ideas into reality.

Dolores also wants Alejandro to know that she will always love him and support his decisions, which, according to his dreams, will one day lead him to great things. But when the time finally comes for Alejandro to leave on her behalf, Dolores can’t help but feel like she’s sending him into a world that isn’t good enough for a soul as sensitive as hers.

Through Katie Byron’s impeccably unconventional production design and Isabella Rossellini’s voice-over narration, troublemaker gives you clues as to how, more than being a simple chronicle of Alexander’s trip to America, it is actually a kind of fairy tale about a deeply sensitive and sheltered man who discovers what it means to pursue his passions.

Getting to New York City and finding a place to stay are important steps on Alejandro’s path to Hasbro, where he hopes his ideas for social media-obsessed Cabbage Patch Kids and psychologically manipulative barbies could get you an entry level job. However, hopes don’t exactly pay the bills. And as an immigrant, Alejandro’s ability to remain in the United States depends on him finding a job willing to sponsor him before his time runs out. It’s necessity, more than anything else, that leads Alejandro to work at a cryogenics startup specializing in freeze artists like Bobby (RZA) who want to wake up centuries in the future. But it seems to be fate that introduces Alejandro to Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), Bobby’s fiercely belligerent wife and art critic, on the same afternoon he is fired.

While the capricious atmosphere of joy that troublemaker What he accomplishes never fades, becoming much more unhinged once Elizabeth enters the picture with a proposal for Alejandro to become the newest in a seemingly long list of overworked assistants. In Elizabeth, a living reality distortion field whose fuse is as short as her clothing is loud, Alejandro can see a woman in mourning who ultimately wants to be seen and heard more than she really wants to fight. . But screaming is Elizabeth’s default mode, and while most people experience her angry outbursts as ordinary tantrums, Alejandro envisions them as a series of battles between a bloodthirsty monster and its helpless victims.

Although troublemakerThe flights of fancy bring levity to the film, their strength lying in how powerfully they illustrate the more complex and serious ideas Torres is exploring with his script, such as the ways in which The US visa system makes it extraordinarily difficult for immigrants to build new lives and prosper in the country. Dealing with Elizabeth and her quest to locate a series of Bobby’s egg-centric paintings is the kind of hell that would make anyone want to dissociate. But it pales in comparison to the anxiety Alejandro feels knowing that he is just days away from being deported.

Even with sympathetic social workers like Khalil (Laith Nakli) supporting him, with no money, Alejandro has no way to escape the endless fees of the immigration system or the overdraft fees that plague his bank account. And the more time Alejandro spends trying to navigate the unfairly designed maze of near-poverty, the more he finds himself turning to the incarnation of Craigslist (Larry Owen) to find lower-paying side jobs.

troublemaker quietly weaves together many of its narrative threads in clever ways: Elizabeth is the cave-dwelling monster who haunts Dolores’ dreams, for example, and the critic’s power to make things exist (by stalking people) reminds Alejandro of the ability of his mother to translate. sketches into three-dimensional works of art.

But the film sometimes feels more like a set of complementary stories than a singular narrative (which isn’t necessarily a knock against it) due to the amount of time it spends on supporting characters, diverting attention away from Alejandro. Together, Swinton and Torres are a storm of delightful eccentricities that belie their characters’ shared but distinct emotional vulnerabilities. As Alejandro and Elizabeth grow closer, troublemakerThe forays of The Absurd become even more intense and fantastical to emphasize how they represent the truth of what something is.

Those truths are often so terrifying that people don’t want to see them. But troublemaker emphasizes how healing it can be to confront them through art and trying to build meaningful connections with others even when the task seems impossible.

troublemaker It also stars Greta Lee, Spike Einbinder, Kelly McCormack, Megan Stalter, Charlene Incarnate, Martine Gutiérrez and Carlos E. Navedo. The film hits theaters nationwide on March 22.