The coming-of-age drama Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) unfolds across sun-soaked neighborhoods in the Bronx, as 19-year-old Rico navigates the responsibilities of imminent adulthood over one stifling summer. Rendered with unflinching naturalism, effortless humor, and bracing humanity, the debut feature from writer-director Joel Alfonso Vargas—which won a special jury prize for its ensemble cast at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and opens this week in New York—captures a New York City borough rarely framed with such tenderness and specificity.

“We were looking to highlight the beauty of the Bronx,” Vargas told Vogue last week, “because it’s very beautiful, not just in terms of spaces but also its people. We wanted to monumentalize life here, this community that historically has been neglected by cinema.”

For a story inspired by memories of his youth, finding shooting locations that felt lived-in was imperative. “We wanted to preserve the authenticity of the spaces, so I didn’t intervene too much,” he explained, pointing out that often the people in frame were members of the public, not background actors. “We saw this not just as a story about a teen and his family. We wanted it to be a document of the Bronx in a place and time.”

Vargas looked for texture, eschewing the polished aesthetic he views as a symbol of the borough’s corporate-driven gentrification. “The kind of gentrification we get here is not the cute kind with the coffee shops,” he clarified. “The gentrification that’s more prevalent where I grew up is the CubeSmart storages and the Targets—clean and clinical. The real New York, to me, has a completely different look. Spaces tell stories, as much as faces do.”

He also sought locations that required minimal lighting, in part to benefit his cast, some of whom were streetcast, first-time film actors. “I don’t like to touch up or embellish the space at all, not even with lighting,” he said. “I never want the spaces to look like film sets, especially if I’m working with a non-actor. I don’t want people to get in their heads about being in a movie. I want people to show up as themselves as much as possible.”

From a cramped family apartment to the salt-laced sprawl of Orchard Beach—where Rico (played with irrepressible bravado by first-time film actor Juan Collado) hustles homemade illicit cocktails dubbed nutcrackers under the relentless sun—below Vargas details some of the film’s real-life Bronx locations.

The Family Apartment

A lot of the film takes place in the apartment where Rico and his sister were raised by a single mom. Whereas the Bronx at large is a hectic, hazardous place, home was always our safe space. I grew up in a single-parent household too, and there wasn’t a whole lot of adult supervision, so we would get away with a lot, you know? We’d have friends over and then girls. [Smiles.] The crib is important.

The original location we meant to shoot at as the family’s apartment was infested with cockroaches. When the exterminator saw it, he was like, “You guys can’t shoot here—but actually I live a few blocks down.” He moved his whole family out for us, and his apartment was much nicer because it was more spacious and had so many angles that photographed very nicely. New Yorkers get a bad rap for being rude—but that was the luckiest I’ve ever gotten, and it was due to the generosity of a stranger. We saw the exterminator’s gesture as a sign that we had to keep pushing forward and making this film.

This is Rico’s realm, where he dominates, and over the course of the story, you see his perceived power begin to slip away as the women in his life take it away. The film was shot very observationally; we wanted a fly-on-the-wall perspective on these people’s lives.

This is what the bedrooms of many young men growing up in the Bronx, including my own, look like. I love just how lived-in this looks. Lia Chiarin, the production designer, put up the Dominican flag and the caps on the wall, but this was actually the exterminator’s bedroom, and we included his belongings: the trophies, the stickers on the dresser. Juan brought some things from his bedroom. He’s really precious about that Bulbasaur.

Orchard Beach

Although the Bronx is a peninsula, Orchard Beach is our only beach, and it’s man-made. The busiest days there are July 4th and the Puerto Rican Day Parade in June, so when we shot in August, there was light traffic. It took us a while to get permission to shoot there, so sometimes we’d duck and dive when patrol cars came by. But we had to do it—what other beach would we use?

We called this Rico’s Cove, where he would go for more private, intimate things. Orchard Beach has this marshy part in the back. There’s a city park, Pelham Bay Park, connected to the beach, so you have wildlife and a forest just on the other side of this beach. Maybe in the sequel we’ll explore that more.

Fordham Road

Fordham Road is the Times Square of the Bronx. It’s where you would get your school uniforms, and I would go shopping here with my grandma.

There’s a military recruitment center at the center of this major intersection. It’s no surprise that a lot of the military is comprised of young Latino men. Coming of age in the Bronx, where many people live on the margins of poverty, when you’re out of options, the military seems like a way out. Many people I grew up with took that path.

Grand Concourse

The Grand Concourse is a very beautiful boulevard stretching the entire length of the Bronx, modeled on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It was meant to be this swanky place, and then, of course, it didn’t quite live up to that. But the apartments along the Grand Concourse are some of the most beautiful in New York City, I would argue.

The Pizzeria

Rocco’s Pizzeria is our assistant director’s childhood pizzeria. We were going for that old-school New York kind, and I emphasized having an arcade, which is a dying thing in pizzerias now.

The Subway

The elevated train is big in the Bronx. We have the 1 line in the west and the 4/5/6 in the east. This is classic, classic Bronx.

City Island

The restaurant where Rico works is Johnny’s Reef in City Island. The manager and the staff are also in the film. We had no location marshal, so the people in view are real members of the public, eating.

Crotona Park

The sound of basketball is the score to any teenager’s summer in New York City, so we have that in the background here at Crotona Park. It’s incredible how many baby showers and kids’ birthdays happen at all hours. Literally, these things go on until 4 or 5 a.m., music blasting. This is where that happens.

The Barbershop

We spend a lot of time in the barbershop. I have curly, thickish hair, and it needs a lot of maintenance, so I’d be in the barbershop every week or two. It’s also a community space. Even if you’re not getting a haircut, you come to hang out and talk shit—true for men and true for women, too, with hair salons. This is where Rico maybe picks up his conspiracy theories, gets his informal education, and catches up on gossip. Through a door behind this barbershop is a music studio—which is not unusual in any way.

Loew’s Paradise Theatre

Loew’s Paradise Theatre was once considered one of the most beautiful cinemas in the country. Today it’s basically abandoned, and we don’t know what its future will be. That exists against the backdrop of a borough with no independent cinemas left. I included this to recall these cultural spaces we’re losing. ​​

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) opens on April 17 at Film Forum in Manhattan and Regal Concourse in the Bronx and on May 1 at American Cinematheque Los Feliz 3 Theatre in Los Angeles.