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‘Mad Bills to Pay’ Review: Soon-to-Be Father in the Bronx Struggles to Stay the Course in Impressively Acted Vérité Drama
Joel Alfonso Vargas' 'Mad Bills to Pay,' debuting at Sundance Film Festival, follows a soon-to-be father pushing to take on responsibility.
Those outbursts of emotion, often reserved for the eyes and ears of those involved, are magnified via a potent cinematic voice in writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas ’ impressively conceived and superbly acted social realist debut “ Mad Bills to Pay(or Destiny, dile que no soy malo).” Expanded from the short film “May It Go Beautifully for You, Rico” which premiered in 2024, “Mad Bills” opens with a title card that warns “the working man is a sucker,” a succinct adage that encompasses the verité drama’s thematic essence: the tug of war between a person’s agency over their actions and their powerlessness in the face of socioeconomic forces preventing them from overcoming their precarious circumstances. At home, where multiple Dominican flags showcase the family’s pride for their heritage, tensions flare up with his hardworking, understandably short-tempered mother (Yohanna Florentino) and his argumentative teen sister Sally (Nathaly Navarro) over Rico’s marijuana habit and irregular employment. Collado’s initial suave nonchalance as Rico blossoms into a layered mix of the unfounded bravado typical of young manhood: the comedown of disappointment, the false solace found in alcohol, glimpses of warped ideologies on masculinity and the fear of becoming a father while having grown up without one.
Or read this on Variety
