Shadows on the Wall | Problemista

Problemista

dir-scr Julio Torres
prd Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Julio Torres
with Julio Torres, Tilda Swinton, RZA, Isabella Rossellini, Catalina Saavedra, Greta Lee, James Scully, Laith Nakli, Kelly McCormack, Spike Einbinder, Larry Owens, Logan J Alarcon-Poucel
release US 22.Mar.24,
UK 8.Jul.24
23/US A24 1h44

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With his distinctive surreal, whimsical approach to storytelling, gifted actor-filmmaker Julio Torres takes a funny but sharply knowing look at an immigrant's dream of becoming an artist. And he's accompanied on-screen by an uproariously blistering Tilda Swinton. While many details might be silly, and scenes often play out as wildly imaginative fantasies with engaging on-set effects, the underlying story has a vivid emotionality that catches us off guard.

Arriving from El Salvador in New York, Alejandro (Torres) knows he's no longer in the imaginative world his artist mother Dolores (Saavedra) created for him. He aspires to be a toy designer, but to maintain his visa takes a job at a cryogenic centre tending to frozen painter Bobby (RZA), whose full-on wife Elizabeth (Swinton) hires Alejandro to help her fund Bobby's stasis with an exhibition of his paintings. Then Alejandro's immigration lawyer (Nakli) offers him a more secure job, and he must decide whether it's worth risking everything to hold on to his dream.

Quirky touches abound, as Torres playfully creates strikingly inventive visuals using puppets, costumes, sets, lighting and camera tricks. This isn't meant to have a seamless digital look: it's an exploration of the impulse to create. So as Alejandro chooses chaos over order in his life, he is knowingly pursuing the insecure path of an artist, simply because he can't even begin to think of doing anything else.

At the story's centre is the outrageously messy relationship Alejandro creates with Elizabeth, played by Swinton as a riotously out-of-control whirlwind. She is hilarious to watch as she rants about anything and everyone, and Torres is terrific as her foil, carefully navigating each wildly spiralling situation. There's lovely support from Saavedra, as Alejandro consults her about everything even as she navigates her own creative block while designing a civic monument. RZA plays nicely against type as the hapless Bobby. Lee has a superb sequence as one of Bobby's mistresses. And Rossellini gives fabulous voiceover narration.

While the film remains resolutely goofy, there are quietly profound things happening between the lines, as Alejandro grapples with his status as an immigrant in the impossible maze of visa regulations. Torres brings a wonderful emotionality to his performance, allowing the audience to feel each challenge, triumph and setback. As a writer and director, he's adept at creating very funny people and situations. And there are some comical sequences here that already feel like classic cinema.

themes, language, violence 26.Jun.24

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