With ‘Mad Bills to Pay,’ Joel Alfonso Vargas aims to rep the real Dominican Bronx

by

Nutcrackers are popular, colorful mixed drinks sold on the streets of the Bronx every summer. Filmmaker Joel Alfonso Vargas, who grew up in the area, sees them as more than just a drink – they’re a hidden part of the local culture he discovered as a teenager.

He explains over Zoom that the same person who sold marijuana also sold nutcrackers. You’d simply contact them, and they’d deliver everything in a backpack.

Vargas’ first film, “Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)”, follows one of the many small business owners in the community. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 and is now available to see in cinemas.

Nineteen-year-old Rico (Juan Collado) makes money selling nutcrackers on the beach. However, when his sixteen-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Destiny (Destiny Checo), moves in with him and his family, he realizes he needs a more stable job to prepare for fatherhood. Rico’s difficult childhood – growing up without a father and facing challenges as a young man of color from a poor family – begins to weigh heavily on him.

Although Vargas, age 34, wasn’t raised by a particularly attentive parent, his novel, “Mad Bills to Pay,” was inspired by his recollections of men he knew who shared similarities with the book’s protagonist.

He explains that he was surrounded by people who often undermined their own success growing up. The film explores why people do this, something he noticed a lot in his friends. He thinks he was attracted to them, possibly because they seemed more self-assured than he felt.

Filmmaker Vargas, whose parents immigrated to the US, was raised in the Marble Hill neighborhood, which is near Inwood and Washington Heights – an area often called ‘Little Dominican Republic’. He joined our conversation from his mother’s apartment, where she still lives and where she raised him and his siblings as a single parent in public housing.

×

Vargas says that growing up in his Bronx neighborhood, he constantly heard people telling him he needed to move away because there were no opportunities there. He finds this discouraging, especially because he believes the Bronx is a beautiful place and hopes his film will show that side of it.

The now-gone Coliseum Theater on 181st Street played a key role in shaping Vargas’ love for film. It was there he first saw movies like James Cameron’s “Titanic” and Danny Boyle’s “The Beach.” His older brother later expanded his horizons by introducing him to more complex stories.

Vargas explains that even before we knew the word, he was a true film lover. He’d consistently find and share excellent movies, particularly those in the gangster genre. We watched a lot of Martin Scorsese’s work, as well as realistic Black films like ‘Menace to Society’ and ‘Poetic Justice’.

Although a high school class about American movies in the 1970s sparked his interest, it wasn’t until Vargas went to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, to study engineering that he began to think about filmmaking as a real possibility for his future.

He originally thought about a career in filmmaking, specifically as a cinematographer. However, the 2016 election of Donald Trump caused him to rethink his approach to storytelling. He felt the dehumanization of people of color, and Latinos in particular, required a different kind of engagement.

As a movie lover, I’ve always believed filmmakers have a real responsibility. I started thinking about how I could use my skills to show things honestly, not to tell people what to think, but to accurately represent what’s happening. I never want to preach, just portray things truthfully and let the audience draw their own conclusions.

That feeling was made even stronger by “The Get Down,” a Netflix series from 2016 that takes place in the South Bronx during the 1970s.

He recalls watching the first episode and immediately thinking it didn’t feel realistic. He says the dialogue and movements just didn’t seem genuine or natural.

Vargas made “Mad Bills to Pay” after spending ten years directing several short films, as he was entering his thirties. Looking back, he realized the story of Rico – a young father struggling with responsibility and lacking the maturity to handle it well – reflected some of his own experiences.

Vargas shared that he was grappling with his own father’s absence while also starting to think about becoming a father himself, now that he was entering his thirties. These thoughts were becoming increasingly significant as he was in a long-term relationship at the time.

Vargas initially chose an actor who wasn’t a professional, a new father whose life mirrored the story. However, the actor left the project shortly before filming because it would require too much time away from his family. With shooting days away, Vargas turned to Collado, who connected with the film on a personal level—like the director, Collado was raised without a father.

The film’s title includes a Spanish phrase taken from the bachata song “Loco de Amor” by Dominican musician Luis Vargas (who is not related to the filmmaker). In the song, the artist sings, “Tu que sabes lo que hago dile que no soy malo” – essentially pleading, “Tell them I’m not a bad guy.” The filmmaker interprets this line as if Rico is writing a letter from the future, asking Destiny to confirm he’s not as flawed as he seems.

Vargas notes that the title design always features handwriting, which he imagines as a future postscript from the character Rico at the end of a letter. He speculates that the letter might be addressed to the child Rico has with Destiny. The location from which Rico is writing remains a mystery – perhaps he’s in prison, or maybe he’s relocated to a different state.

The story of Rico’s family in “Mad Bills to Pay”—where his mother, Yohanna Florentino, speaks only Spanish—reflects the way Vargas himself was raised. Even though Vargas’ mother went to school in the United States, she intentionally maintained her family’s native language. “My grandparents only spoke Spanish, so my mom was very fluent,” Vargas explains. “And she continued to speak only Spanish to us, both when we were children and still today, so we could also feel comfortable with the language.”

Vargas speaks Spanish fluently, having spent the first four years of his life in the Dominican Republic. Due to difficulties at home with his parents’ relationship, his family decided it was best for him to live with relatives in the Caribbean nation.

Being immersed in Spanish culture taught me so much – not just the language, but about life itself. I remember coming home and everyone said I’d picked up a bit of a mischievous streak, mostly from picking up some colorful new vocabulary! I always think about my grandmother when I think about family, and I definitely saw a lot of her influence in the character of Yohanna, the mother in the film. Really, my biggest goal was to make the whole story feel as honest and real as my own life.

Vargas wanted the film to feel relatable and understandable for everyone. When his mother asked what it was about, he showed her a scene of Rico’s family debating a vaccine for their baby. He recalled her being surprised and saying it perfectly captured real life. Now, he’s incredibly proud to hear his mother explain the film so well to others.

Someone asked me last night what my film, “Mad Bills to Pay,” is about. I’m really bad at giving summaries, so I asked my mom to explain it. She simply said it’s about everyday life. It was amazing to hear her describe it so thoughtfully – almost like an academic analysis! It’s really cool that she understood the film on that level, even though she doesn’t consider herself a movie buff, and I think that means others will too.

The new film, “Mad Bills to Pay,” will premiere at the Los Feliz Theatre on May 2nd. It will then be shown at various Laemmle locations from May 4th to 6th, followed by a run at the Laemmle NoHo 7 and Monica Film Center beginning May 8th.

Read More

2026-05-01 01:32