"Mad Bills to Pay" REVIEW

Published on 5/9/2026 

Written by: Braylon Mitchell 

Directed by: Joel Alfonso Vargas 

Cast: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro, etc. 

Plot:  Summer in The Bronx. He sells "nutcracker" cocktails, gets high, stays moving. Then she moves in. Two kids in a cramped apartment, playing house until the city reminds them how fast the streets make you grow up. 

+ Q&A with writer/director Joel Alfonso Vargas at The Belcourt Theatre. 

REVIEW 

This is a small indie debut that premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival and played at last year's Berlin Film Festival, a film that caught my eye based on the positive things I'd read about it (I really liked its title too) and finally has arrived at my local arthouse theater. Right off the bat, this film announces itself with such confidence and style, immersing us into an inimate look at this Bronx community and into the lives of our main characters. Unlike similar films that utilize a lot of cast improvisation within the bustling city of New York, this film isn't shot hand held or purposefully fast paced- instead, with its beautifully composed cinematography it takes a static approach to simply letting the camera sit back and capture what's playing out on screen. This film aims to capture a more than relatable "hangout" vibe of life going by fast but the days going by slow- sweaty on a hot summer's day with stress always right around the corner. As a piece dedicated to teen parents, the film does its job well at finding nuance in its characters. The main character, Rico, feels so real. Not only because of Juan Collado's raw performance, but because of how authenically outlined he is as a tornado of a person who's heart is evident but contuines to be self destructive. We keep rooting for this guy to get his shit together and grow past his immaturity, but he was never given the right tools to be able to do so and because of that this character comes across as so authentic- as we all know people like Rico, and many of us have or have had people like that in our lives. All of the characters in this film pop out as people we can all relate to knowing or in some cases being, and that's always a reliable sign of a film capturing true realism. This is a raw, powerful film that exhibits independent filmmaking and storytelling with artistic integrity and boldness. 

THREE BEST ELEMENTS

• The cinematography. This film is almost entirely shot without any camera movement, it's static fly on the wall camera work that creates a sense of intimacy as it makes us feel like we're right there in the moment. Each shot is brilliantly framed with interesting composition and a keen cinematic eye, keeping the film consistently compelling with its visuals even when they're unconventionally still. When the camera does move, it's seemingly accidental. There's a scene in the film where in the middle of an argument, Rico throws clothes at Destiny and it hits the camera- knocking it off center, along with Collado's lav mic volume peaking. In that moment, I was thrilled. You don't see that often in film, a take purposefully kept in where an accident occurs. As a film student, that type of creative boldness revs me up. 

• The cast. Man, the four performances in this film are a joy to watch. Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, and Nathaly Navarro are absolutely seamless. In the Q&A, we learned the impressive fact that the lead Juan Collado was actually an understudy that entered production three days before it began without any rehearsal. Also, Destiny Checo was discovered off TikTok where she would lip sync popular films/TV- I found that to be quite inspiring, as her performance was my favorite out of the cast. 

• The direction. Joel Alfonso Vargas leaves an immediate directorial impression with this film. In his Q&A, he talked at length about how personal the film was to his experiences in the Bronx and how characters were based off people in his life- it was very interesting to hear him elaborate, but watching the film itself his personal touch and experience comes through with great obviousness. This was clearly a film from the heart. His direction is creative, stylized, and based in artistic purpose. A very impressive directorial debut. 

WORST ELEMENT 

• I'm sure some may find the film too slow or lacking in plot, but to me there was no directly notable negative element I'd wish to single out. I don't enjoy knocking films this small anyway, but there isn't much negative I could find to say about this film. 

RATING

8/10

You should watch it, buddy!