Puzzle (2018)

Puzzle review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Puzzle is the type of romantic comedy that would appear to be a typically quirky indie romance, where a lonely housewife finds comfort and a relationship over the activities of puzzles. And it is, until the movie finds something more. It achieves a certain emotional realization where the characters start to realize where they’re going with this and kickstart that painful shift which is needed so. This may make the film sound intense, but it still manages to be a sweet and touching romance.

Kelly Macdonald plays Agnes, the housewife who hasn’t quite found herself. She doesn’t like parties and prefers the quieter moments during the day when she’s not dealing with her blue-collar husband or her two kids bound for college. Her husband is too enveloped in his lifestyle to care about her past dinner time, her oldest son is a pompous brat, and her youngest is conflicted about telling dad he’d rather work in the kitchen than his auto shop. She soon discovers that her favorite thing to do during the days when the house is empty are puzzles. And she’s good at them. Or at least faster.

So, of course, she’s got to hit up that puzzle shop in New York City. How often do you run across a store that only sells puzzles? She struts into the place and purchases the puzzles with the most pieces as though it’s no sweat. Even better, she discovers there’s a local puzzle champion seeking a partner. Sounds strange, but the puzzle expert, Robert (Irrfan Khan), turns out to be a rather nice guy. He is a little too obsessed with the hobby, but he’s in good company with the likes of Agnes.

Now it doesn’t take a genius to see where this story could lead. A lesser film would have Agnes ditch her family and run off with the more romantic and caring Robert. And the film nearly reaches that point, up to the expected moment where they make out on a table of puzzle pieces. But the film never contorts itself so simple it could fit into a trashy romance novel. This is because Agnes’s husband is not such a nasty person. Sure, he’s selfish and blind to his wife’s desires, but he’s still trying to work hard for his family and wants to repair the damage in his own odd ways when he realizes their marriage is crumbling. The story could’ve especially taken a turn for the worse when they bicker over what to do with their kids. But Agnes slowly comes to realize that life is not so simple as running off with your puzzle-loving crush, as fantastical as that sounds.

Puzzle is filled with a lot of quiet moments of Agnes taking in the direction of her life and a thunderous bolt of the bitter when she confronts both her husband and Robert. She makes a change in her life, growing a backbone that slowly grows strong enough to realize those flammable bridges don’t deserve a match. There’s such a fulfilling arc for the character over the course of the film that it doesn’t really matter if she and Robert make it to the puzzle championship. That’s for another movie to use puzzles more as a sport and it’ll most likely be a dorky comedy.

It may sound strange that the concept of a movie like Puzzle features a unique romance and a great character study, but the most amazing things can come from the unlikely places. It’s no surprise that both Macdonald and Khan have solid performances in a script that allows them to show a little bit of everything, but it’s especially pleasing to see them shine so brightly in a film that takes its time to make its characters human and its arcs contemplative. So, yes, a movie called Puzzle is more entertaining than the aspect of putting together a puzzle, an obvious metaphor brilliantly woven into one woman’s quest to grow a spine.