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That\u2019s when Alejandro meets Elizabeth, an erratic and eccentric woman played by Tilda Swinton. She\u2019s a true \u201cproblemista\u201d: someone who looks for or creates problems. Elizabeth, who is married to a cryogenically frozen artistic painter (briefly played by rapper RZA), tentatively agrees to sponsor Alejandro if he helps her find an art gallery to host her husband\u2019s art pieces, a varying collection of egg paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one scene, Elizabeth adamantly (and humorously) insists Alejandro learn and use FileMaker Pro, which the film\u2019s narrator pithily says is \u201cbasically the same\u201d as Google Sheets, \u201cbut harder to use and not free.\u201d Elizabeth herself does not know how to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s just one of many scenarios Alejandro must navigate as he adapts to Elizabeth\u2019s overbearing and maniacal nature. She yells and freaks out over every moment that does not go her way. She says everyone is yelling at her, yet she is the only one raising her voice. Elizabeth\u2019s abusive nature is magnified when she turns into a dragon as Alejandro, a knight, tries to defeat her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certain qualities of \u201cProblemista\u201d are reminiscent of Terry Gilliam\u2019s fantastical and bonkers Monty Python films. While reveling in dry humor and outlandish sequences, \u201cProblemista\u201d argues that immigrants are people who have to live with a margin of no error, and need to exceed in every single way. The film obsesses over the dystopian power dynamics between employers and immigrant workers, who, like Alejandro, must achieve acceptance at the expense of truly expressing what they want. They can only bite their tongue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The toxic tension between Alejandro and Elizabeth is rounded out by a supporting cast featuring Greta Lee, James Scully, and Larry Owens, who personify the world of Craigslist, and Alejandro\u2019s mother, played by Chilean actress Catalina Saavedra, who supports him from afar in El Salvador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Torres\u2019 \u201cProblemista,\u201d hard work and keeping your head down will get you nowhere. Immigrants can do everything they can in pursuit of opportunity, and still have the rug pulled out from under them. It\u2019s through Elizabeth\u2019s unhinged ploys that Alejandro discovers that sometimes you need to create problems to find new solutions. Or, as Elizabeth puts it, make yourself someone else’s problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Julio Torres\u2019 \u201cProblemista,\u201d hard work and keeping your head down will get you nowhere. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":60055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":true,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3535],"tags":[],"coauthors":[24860],"class_list":["post-60087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/UJTP_06009_R2-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C360&quality=89&ssl=1\")
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