Mad Bills to Pay (or, Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

Rico belongs to a close-knit Dominican-American community in the Bronx. He is enjoying a carefree summer, selling illegal ‘nutcracker’-cocktails and chasing girls at Orchard Beach. His reckless days seem to be numbered when he has to confess that his 16-year-old girlfriend, Destiny, is pregnant. Convinced that he will be a good father, but lacking the skills to achieve that goal, he lets Destiny move in with his family. His weary but loving relatives become the involuntary spectators of their messy, complicated love life. Writer and director Joel Alfonso Vargas makes his hometown the heart of his feature film. With his talented cast, he paints such an authentic portrait of the Bronx that it almost seems like a documentary.