Somewhere in middle-class suburbia, shy and dutiful housewife Agnes (Kelly Macdonald) prepares for her own birthday party. She vacuums, hangs decorations, bakes a cake, and cleans up when the guests finally leave the modest home that she inherited from her Hungarian immigrant father. Agnes’s domestic life revolves around the Catholic Church and caring for her garage-mechanic husband Louie (David Denman) and teenage sons: Ziggy (Bubba Weiler) and Gabe (Austin Abrams). But when she’s given an intricate 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle, she is able to finish it in one afternoon. After enthusiastically dismantling and completing the puzzle several times, she makes her way to a store in lower Manhattan that specializes in complicated, challenging puzzles—where she spies a “Partner Wanted” sign. Hesitant at first, Agnes texts the listed number, reaching Robert (Irrfan Khan), a reclusive inventor whose patent (involving magnets) allows him to live comfortably and enter puzzle competitions. When the pair get together, something within repressed Agnes clicks, leading to rising self-confidence and independence. Feeling guilty about deceiving her husband, Agnes continues to trek into the city two days a week to practice with Robert in preparations for a nationwide contest. Eventually, of course, clueless Louie finds out where she goes and what she’s doing, precipitating a marital midlife crisis. Adapted from Natalia Smirnoff’s Argentinian film Rompecabezas, this compassionate character study, sensitively directed by Marc Turtletaub, is recommended. (S. Granger)
Puzzle
Sony, 103 min., R, DVD: $25.99, Nov. 13
Puzzle
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: