Every one of us has known someone like Rico. Brash. Immature. Rudderless. Prone to bad decisions and constantly convinced they’re just one genius idea away from fame and immense wealth. What will it take to snap them out of their delusion? An inciting incident, or perhaps the passage of time? Maybe some of us are simply destined to remain, for all of our days, a little bit dumb and very immature.
Mad Bills to Pay — subtitled Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo — centers on the aforementioned shortsighted 19-year-old and his small Dominican American family. Rico (Juan Collado) lives with his mom and younger sister in a cramped Bronx apartment, barely contributing by selling homemade booze concoctions called “nutcrackers” (or “nutties”) on Orchard Beach. Very much still a child himself, Rico finds himself on the fast track to adulthood when he impregnates his 16-year-old girlfriend Destiny.
The debut feature from Bronx native Joel Alfonso Vargas, Mad Bills to Pay has shades of Sean Baker — intimately shot, slice-of-life slow cinema featuring little-known performers, some of them making their first on-screen appearances. Vargas’ entire cast delivers relatable, authentic performances, particularly Yohanna Florentino as Rico’s mother Andrea. She’s 40 years old but moves with the world-weary physicality of someone much older, carrying the weight of single motherhood through a life that deals her little more than constant disappointment. Collado, meanwhile, vacillates between sympathetic and infuriating as his character navigates money troubles and run-ins with the law, never quite managing to handle any situation with grace.
But are all of Rico’s problems really his own fault? Plenty of them are, sure. But he’s also the product of his circumstances, beset with bad luck and a tough upbringing that — despite what some might think — isn’t the sort of background you simply bootstrap yourself out of. With support from his mother and patience from his partner, maybe he’ll rise to the occasion.
Mad Bills to Pay moves slowly and sometimes meanders through its story in the same frustrating manner that real life often does. But it’s frequently beautiful, and will hit home with anyone who’s ever found themselves steeped in family drama or close with someone who just can’t seem to get their shit together — which is to say, nearly all of us.
