“Problemista” literally translates into the troublemaker, which is not a description of Alejandro ‘Ale’ Martinez (Julio Torres), who dreams of working as a toy designer for Hasbro, but he needs a work visa, or he will be deported back to his homeland, El Salvador. Without a work visa, he cannot make money to financially support himself, so he works for cash under the table. Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), an art critic who is at war with the world and impossible to please, is his best prospect. He agrees to help her curate an exhibit, and she agrees to be his sponsor, but the exhibit is a longshot, especially with such a volatile employer.

I went into “Problemista” expecting a different movie. In the previews, Elizabeth feels like a clueless, privileged Karen who will torture Alejandro and is oblivious to his practical concerns. Also I was under the mistaken impression that the film was going to be akin to the surrealist “Sorry to Bother You” (2018) and literalize the concept of immigrants to the US as aliens being banished off Earth using advanced technology in a world similar to ours, but more fantastical. Nope. Wrong on all counts.

“Problemista” is a surprising movie, more heartfelt and sweeter than expected. Alejandro has the demeanor of a little boy. He shuffles and bounces when he walks. He speaks with a soft and hesitant affect. The film’s flights of fancy are visual metaphors for how he feels the world works. When people get deported, they simply vanish. He visualizes the US Citizenship and Immigration Services as a grand warehouse filled with hour glasses bearing people’s names to convey how time is slipping away from them. Torres said that he “shows things in how they feel and not how they are.” His mother, Dolores (Catalina Saavedra), is an artist who made the countryside into her gallery space as a kind of playground for her son, so it is no surprise that he is an unconventional toymaker disinterested in child’s play and more similar to a performance artist.

I do not want to give away a lot about Elizabeth, but her back story is more tender and foolish than expected for a person described as a monster, a hydra, and a nightmare. While other people are eager to escape her insatiable vortex of anger, Alejandro seeks her attention and engages her long before he needs a work visa. Swinton delivers a master class in creating unique characters from head to toe. As Elizabeth, Swinton clasps objects long after they are of any use such as an empty water bottle crushed in her grip or her cell phone with the flashlight always on because she does not have the patience to understand how something works thus rendering any tool useless and into an obstacle. Costume designer Catherine George dresses Elizabeth in loud clothes that are on the verge of being outdated but also still contains vestiges of chic. Elizabeth’s hair is a similar disaster sometimes red and other times purple with the roots showing and the texture damaged from the constant perming. Above all else, she wishes for order and rest from the chaos of the world. She is a person who can dish it out but cannot take it and knows on some level that she is the problem.

If all the characters share something in common, it is putting all their energy into a goal that distracts them from their main purpose. Elizabeth is like a predator lashing out at anyone or thing moving, but Alejandro redirects her on occasion to refocus her attention on her ostensible stated goal: the realization of a dream that will give her emotional closure and force her to face her actual feelings when there is no one to fight. Alejandro is so focused on getting a green card that he almost loses sight of his real dream, his vocation, but to materialize that dream, he must stop acting like a helpless boy and act like an adult. Dolores, who is perhaps an extraneous character in the overall context of the main story, is distracted from working on her art because she is so worried about her son. They are all putting their energy into the wrong thing, and the actual logistics of attainment are not that hard once they become clear on their objective. There is a moment when Alejandro receives an offer of safety, which my dumb ass thought was a solution, but was a test that he passed. Hint: there are some top shelf jokes about the law that I completely cosign.

Also it is a terrific intergenerational, complementary friendship story about two imperfect people who are not the successes that they imagine themselves to be. Alejandro and Elizabeth show their worst selves to each other—he is often incompetent, and she lives up to all her monikers, yet they become complementary, platonic soulmates, unconditionally loving each other anyway and enjoying each other’s company despite their imperfections. Alejandro pictures her as a dragon and himself as a knight, but his goal is not to slay her. Elizabeth is a more relatable and endearing character than expected. Monsters want to be loved too, and don’t we all imagine ourselves as impossible, unlovable creatures unfit for human companionship in any form. She appreciates Alejandro even while haranguing him for failing at many of the tasks that she assigns him. He brightens at each compliment because coming from her, they are sincere. On the other hand, she does have bad taste when it comes to people that she likes, however they share that quality and interpret artwork similarly, so it probably evens out in the end. While I would not encourage anyone to engage in a toxic relationship, Alejandro’s admiration of Elizabeth is sincere. He relates to how nothing comes easy to her, but she refuses to take no for an answer. Though problematic, she is also aspirational.

Just when the sci fi elements seem to be products of an overactive imagination, they become literal in the denouement thus adding a delightful and charming mix of sci-fi meets magical realism as Dolores’ prophetic dreams of her son’s future comes true. With Isabella Rosselini serving as the narrator, there is a fairy tale nature to the narrative. Unlike “Beau Is Afraid” (2024) or “Being John Malkovich” (1999), the corrupt and decaying nature of the urban landscape and the absurd, oneiric structure of office spaces have a whimsical upbeat note in Torres’ writing and directing feature debut—trash becomes art. His personification of Craigslist (Larry Owens) as a liminal junkyard in the furthest reaches of the Internet is genius. Even Robert Ouyang Rusli’s soundtrack enhances the story as if it was an invisible character with a xylophone silencing when Alejandro turns off the light to go to sleep, but when inspiration hits, and he turns the light back on to draw in his sketchbook, the instrument resumes its light beats. In that same scene, Alejandro plays with his hair revealing the origin of his cowlick. It is a sign of creative inspiration.

Shout out to Spike Einbinder, who plays Alejandro’s roommate, Spray. Einbinder has a Sandra Bernhardt quality to his performance. This roommate initially delivers an impression of the oblivious, privileged roommate, but as “Problemista” progresses, Spray has practical solutions to all of Alejandro’s problems and sees his struggles. This movie nails the financial tribulations and bureaucracy nightmare that most people who reside in the US endure without getting bogged down in the doldrums. Alejandro’s real dragon is to shake people out of their agentic role and make them become individual human beings, a coincidental response to “Experimenter” {2016).

“Problemista” is so good that I went to two screenings and enjoyed it even more the second time around. Finally 2024 has delivered a solid, daring and affable film—an unusual and tantalizing combination.

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I was asked an intriguing question: when does Ale become so assertive? It felt sudden to the questioner. I think that it happened slowly over time as he got tired of being invisible or (justly) fired. As he learns how to handle Elizabeth, which is represented in the imaginary dragon’s cave, he becomes a knight in shining armor who uses his tongue, not a sword, as his weapon. There are a lot of scenes where it feels like the next step should be followed, but he does not such as Fed Ex-ing the burned CDs or returning to his room. He slowly stops following rules or seeing things as obstacles. When Elizabeth delivers a slight scratch on his cheek, it remains for the rest of the movie like a battle scar. When he finally has to shed his little boy security blankets, the shapeless clothes and book bag, stops hesitating and takes the dominant position in his cleaning kink gig, he becomes an adult and is not a victim. Once Elizabeth kills herself, he no longer has anyone but himself to rely on and using her as his model, he confronts Brian (Miles G. Jackson), the Hasbro exec. He has no close male relationships, and he perceives most superficial male associations as threats to his survival: the subletter, Travis (Theo Maltz), Bingham (James Scully), the Salon Packages Guy (Bardia Salimi) so it makes sense that a woman would be his model.

Who thinks that Elizabeth is a failed Bene Gesserit, especially after her command to the tram operator! Also Ale and Elizabeth begin to converse telepathically. I attended a screening which played the recording of Torres and Swinton at a Q&A, and Swinton made a very interesting point about Elizabeth that did not initially occur to me. Elizabeth is also “an alien.” While she is not as powerless as Ale, there is a Venn diagram of experiences. They mention that she is like his father!