Tilda Swinton says people may be 'triggered' by 'Problemista': 'They recognize themselves'

Julio Torres thinks the whole concept of toys is pretty weird.

As a writer on “Saturday Night Live” in the late 2010s, some of his very best sketches imagined playtime curios: a life-size wishing well for sensitive boys, or a line of “My Little Stepchildren” dolls for menacing kids who “live for the drama.”

“I find toys to be very potent metaphors,” Torres, 37, says. “The purpose of them is for children to bestow meaning unto them, otherwise they’re just pieces of plastic. It’s always very telling what toy a child is attracted to.”

So it’s hardly a surprise that toys play a key role in Torres’ off-kilter directorial debut, “Problemista” (in select theaters now, expanding nationwide Friday). In the absurdist comedy, Torres portrays an aspiring toy designer named Alejandro, who moves to New York from El Salvador in hopes of landing his dream job at Hasbro. Tilda Swinton co-stars as Elizabeth, an erratic art-world pariah who hires Alejandro as her freelance assistant.

Throughout the movie, Alejandro thinks up all sorts of hyper-specific playthings: a toy truck with a flat tire, to remind children they’re running out of time; a Slinky that can't go down stairs, forcing kids to "take the journey for themselves;" and a smartphone-brandishing Cabbage Patch Doll, who hits you with a $12 Venmo request a week after grabbing sushi.

“We’re really hoping (the film’s distributor) will produce the merch of these toys,” Swinton, 63, says. “Please! That would be amazing.”

Julio Torres explores the 'claustrophobic' immigration process in 'Problemista'

When we meet Alejandro, he’s slogging through a menial job at a cryogenic facility. It’s there he encounters Elizabeth, whose artist husband froze himself after a terminal cancer diagnosis, in hopes that one day scientists might find a cure. After Alejandro gets fired for a split-second mishap, he goes to work for Elizabeth, who’s prone to tangents and tantrums as she curates a show of her spouse's paintings.

At its core, “Problemista” is a platonic love story between Alejandro and Elizabeth, who pushes her young companion to speak up and fight for what he deserves in life.

“From being a monster, she ends up being a mentor,” Swinton says. The actress is reminded of Hayao Miyazaki, who directed this year’s Oscar-winning “The Boy and the Heron": “There are no real villains in his films. They always have some reason that they were threatening or challenging for the protagonists. They end up being enlightening, and I think Elizabeth is like that.”

Before he befriends Elizabeth, Alejandro is forced on a desperate quest to find a sponsor for his work visa, or else he’ll be deported within a month. The film takes a strikingly surreal approach to the plight of immigrants: At the immigration office, Alejandro watches as rejected applicants simply vanish into thin air, leaving only their paperwork behind. At one point, he jumps through a literal maze of bureaucratic cubicles, and panics as an hourglass inches closer to his 30-day deadline.

Torres, who moved to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2009, wanted to capture “the catch-22s and labyrinth-like quality” of the immigration system.

“Rules always promise that there’s order, but it’s actually so much disorder,” Torres recalls. “As someone who’s as easily claustrophobic as I am, systems like that really stay with me. Applying for a work visa is one that I have specifically dealt with. But people can (relate to) it, too, when they’re filing their taxes or navigating the American health insurance nightmare. I was really interested in all these horrible, little cyclical things, and I think I will be for as long as I’m making work.”

Tilda Swinton wants a hotline for people 'triggered' by the movie

“Problemista” premiered to glowing reviews at South by Southwest festival in 2023, where audience members shared their own horror stories about ways they relate to Alejandro, from bad bosses to loud roommates to fishy Craigslist scams.

“At every screening we should have a booth: ‘If anybody felt triggered by any subjects in this movie, please ring this number,’ “ Swinton jokes. “No matter how far we pushed it, they recognize themselves in it.”

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Torres wonders if some of the comedy’s big swings will make sense to people, both logically and emotionally. But he’s felt encouraged by the responses so far.

“It’s a strange comparison, but I love the show ‘Project Runway,’ when they’re relieved that the model can walk in the garment,” Torres says with a laugh. “Every screening, I’m like, ‘OK, she’s walking and the pieces aren’t falling off and she made it back and we’re good.’ That’s how I feel showing the movie.”