In the new movie Problemista, a Salvadoran immigrant named Alejandro longs to become a successful toy designer when he arrives in New York. But the challenges of getting an American work visa threaten his dreams. Then he meets Elizabeth, an art world eccentric played by Tilda Swinton, who becomes his only hope to stay in the country.
Julio Torres is the writer, director, and star of the movie. He emigrated from El Salvador before establishing a career in comedy, which included writing for SNL and co-creating HBO’s Los Espookys.
Torres tells KCRW that the skeleton of Problemista’s plot is connected to his pursuit of a student visa, then a work visa to stay in the U.S.
“I really wanted to make something that dissects how that felt, and the lessons learned from that, and seeing it through a comedic, odd, some might say surrealist lens.”
In one scene, Alejandro navigates an endless maze of rooms — a surreal moment meant to depict the immigration process.
“Anyone who has felt trapped within a maze of bureaucracy and has been made to feel small from it can really relate to that [scene]. … I didn't set out to make a movie that was weird, or to show interesting visuals for the sake of showing me interesting visuals. They're always done, hopefully, in service to a human emotion,” Torres says.
While the immigration journey is the centerpiece of the film, a subplot centers on Elizabeth’s spouse Bobby (played by RZA from Wu-Tang Clan), who has cancer and is frozen in a cryogenic facility so he can return to life in the future.
Delaying life can mirror the immigration process, Torres says. “I see RZA’s character Bobby as immigrating to the future, where there's no guarantee that he'll make it, but that's where his heart tells him he has to be.”
Meanwhile, Torres says Elizabeth is an amalgamation of different people he’s met — and part of himself is in her too. “She's a tribute to difficult people, for sure.”
The film also spotlights Alejandro’s mother Dolores (Catalina Saavedra), an artist who’s still in El Salvador. She created a safe fantasy world for her son when he was young, then adult Alejandro ends up shielding her from the true direness of his New York life.
“That’s a very familiar thing. … You go away. And then you don't tell your parents everything you're up to — because they'll freak out. … It’s a form of protecting each other. … Part of it is that you don't want to hear, ‘That's too much, come back.’ … You just don't want to give that opportunity.”
He continues, “I feel like every artist knows what I'm talking about — there's no guarantee that any of your hopes and dreams will happen. But you need to find joy in the process.”