Movie Review

Fresh face Julio Torres breaks through with highly topical Problemista

Julio Torres in Problemista

Photo courtesy of A24

The best thing about the art of movies is that there will always be someone willing to push the boundaries. Filmmakers like Charlie Kaufman, Yorgos Lanthimos, Wes Anderson, Kelly Reichardt, and more don’t play by the rules of more mainstream people, which makes their films stand out for movie lovers. Joining that list is actor, writer, and now director Julio Torres, thanks to his breakout film, Problemista.

Torres – who looks like a Latino Justin Long - plays Alejandro, an immigrant from El Salvador who’s hanging on by the skin of his teeth in New York City. He has a dream of landing a job with toymaker Hasbro (although his ideas are, shall we say, off-kilter), but takes other less-desirable jobs to maintain his work visa. As the film begins, he’s working for FreezeCorp, which hosts the bodies of people who’ve decided to freeze themselves in hopes of being re-animated in the future.

It’s there that he encounters the manic Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), whose artist husband Bobby (RZA) froze himself after a terminal cancer diagnosis. A mishap results in Alejandro getting fired, and since he needs a job to stay in the country, he soon agrees to be an assistant to Elizabeth, who is desperately trying to sell Bobby’s old paintings – all with an egg motif – in order to keep paying for Bobby’s storage.

Torres, who until this point was best known for writing on Saturday Night Live and co-creating the HBO show Los Espookys, has made a delightfully weird film with all sorts of fun details and slyly observant storytelling. With Alejandro almost always one step away from being deported, it is very much a contemporary immigration story. Torres makes sure to keep this part front of mind with repeated trips to an immigration lawyer and calls back home to Alejandro’s mother.

But the tone of the film is one of barely controlled absurdity, demonstrated in scenes showing Alejandro’s multiple roommates, his attempts at earning cash with side gigs, or, especially, his interactions with Elizabeth. Elizabeth is, to put it kindly, all over the place, with her seemingly ADHD mind never able to keep anything organized – her thoughts, her home, or – in a running gag – her database of Bobby’s paintings.

Somehow, Torres keeps the story on the rails by contrasting the opposite personalities of Alejandro and Elizabeth in highly entertaining ways. The pleasure of seeing the timid Alejandro - who sports a constant cowlick in his hair and has a kind of a bouncy way of walking - match up against the off-the wall Elizabeth - who’s never met a person she wouldn’t confront - has a consistency to it, and the film rarely dips in momentum.

Alejandro is the type of mild-mannered character that normally fades into the background, but Torres makes him eminently watchable with the previously-mentioned quirks and more. He holds his own against the tour-de-force performance by Swinton, who is scarily believable as the frenzied Elizabeth. Plenty of people are sure to know someone who exhibits similar traits, and she nails every nuance perfectly.

With a fun-but-odd story that also touches on a hot-button topic in a sincere-but-light way, Problemista may have a chance to gain a similar fandom to those who liked Everything Everywhere All at Once. Torres has established himself as an actor, writer, and director to watch – not bad for his feature film debut.

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Problemista is now showing in select theaters.

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Movie Review

Jesse Eisenberg delves into personal family ties in A Real Pain

Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain.

Comedy film duos have a long history, from Laurel and Hardy in the 1920s and ‘30s to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in movies like Baby Mama. But the majority of duos have either been friends or work partners, relationships that can be close, but not as close as family. The new film A Real Pain aims for the comedy that a great duo can bring, but hits deeper because the two lead characters are related to each other.

Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Jesse Eisenberg) are first cousins who decide to take a trip to Poland to visit the childhood home of their grandmother, who has recently passed. Their personalities could not be more different, with David buttoned-down and reserved and Benji extremely social, if a little wild. This contrast is on display from the moment they leave on their trip, affecting almost every aspect of their journey.

The two meet up with a diverse tour group in Poland, including guide James (Will Sharpe), recently divorced Marcia (Jennifer Grey), married couple Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy), and Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), an African man who has converted to Judaism. As the group visits various historical sites, David confronts contrasting feelings about Benji, who goes from charming to abrasive seemingly at the drop of a hat.

Written and directed by Eisenberg, the film is about both the family we have and the history of those who came before us. With Benji and David being Jewish and their grandmother having escaped from the Nazis in World War II, the themes hit harder than they might in other situations. Eisenberg takes care to honor his Jewish ancestors both in the way he has Benji and David talk about their grandmother and the places they visit.

But even though emotions are heightened due to the significance of the trip, the film is far from a dour affair. Benji keeps things interesting at almost all times with a series of impulsive decisions, many that are entertaining for both the tour group and the audience watching the film. He is one of those film characters that is great to watch on screen, but would likely be too much to handle if you were confronted with him in real life.

The relationship between Benji and David is a complicated one; the two obviously have love for each other, but they rarely see eye-to-eye on the best way to approach certain situations. This tension keeps the film grounded, and Eisenberg does a great job at showing the push-and-pull the two cousins have with each other. The little moments, especially when Benji and David go their separate ways, say a lot as the characters try to reconcile where each is at in their respective lives.

Eisenberg has always been an understated performer, so this role is almost perfect for him. Culkin, fresh off his Emmy-winning role in HBO’s Succession, is an ideal foil for Eisenberg, as he has a manic energy that he can control or not control at will. It’s also nice to see Grey in action again, as she brings just the right touch to her supporting role.

The drama in A Real Pain comes from the life experiences of its two main characters, which are on full display despite the story only doling out details in small doses. The film is subtle yet powerful, a testament to Eisenberg’s filmmaking ability and the actors never trying to make too much of their scenes.

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A Real Pain opens in theaters on November 15.

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