| Where to Watch | IMDb |
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) Dir. Joel Alfonso Vargas · Comedy-drama · 2025
If you like these things, then you’ll like the film. → Hot, sweaty, unrelenting New York. Among his greatest accomplishments in the film is Joel Alfonso Vargas’s stubborn adherence to a guerilla, documentary-like cinematography style. A credible, gorgeous way to ground the story in the heart of the Bronx’s Dominican American community. → Slice-of-life films. Think Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, or Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl. Your author submits that Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) belongs in conversation with both. → Character studies. An unhurried, naturalistic, culturally grounded portrait of a young Dominican man struggling to make ends meet. → NUTTIES! NUTTIES! GET YOUR NUTTIES HERE! Caution: side effects of watching this film include incessantly shouting “NUTTIES, NUTTIES!” all day long while your child and partner stare at you, astonished, confused, wondering what you’ve come down with.
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The results are in from last week’s poll.
According to 50% of you, the worst person at a movie theater is The Movie Talker, followed closely by The Texter (44%).
Submit a film to the best cameos watchlist.
This week’s community watchlist category is movies with excellent cameos. Submit a movie for a chance to win our annual mystery prize.
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What it is.
An engaged couple's wedding week is thrown off the rails.
If you like these things, then you'll like the film.
→ The undisputed king of bedhead. Robert Pattinson, ladies and gentlemen.
→ Crunchy sound edits. Zendaya’s character is hard of hearing in one ear, which is fully taken advantage of in the edit.
→ Neat set design. This is the sort of film you might want to look up after watching it. I’m certain you’ll discover that every poster, lamp, and sculpture that appeared on-screen really meant something. And then you can tell your friends about it and make them realize how detailed the set design was on this film.
→ Dark, high concept movies. Kristoffer Borgli is no stranger to making high concept films (see Dream Scenario), but The Drama is a shade darker. Though, his (very) dry sense of humor is still quite present in the script.
What I think.
Don’t read anything about Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama before you watch it. Well, you can watch the trailer, if you like. But it won’t illuminate much of the premise, because to do so would declaw the film entirely.
Since I told you not to read anything about The Drama, I presume nobody is reading what I’m writing here. So I can say whatever I want, as long as it’s below this paragraph. I can write absolutely ridiculous things. And no one will know except for me.
I can write about when I was a teenager and I caught my father dancing around his bedroom in his undies, shouting “I’m a disco man! I’m a disco man!”
And then I can explain that this is obviously a lie. But you aren’t reading this, because I told you not to, so why bother?
I can also finally confess that my name isn’t Blake Levy. It’s actually Dale. Just Dale. I dropped my last name the very moment I turned eighteen, because I couldn’t be associated with my father any longer. Because he’s always running around in his undies shouting, “I’m a disco man!”
Of course, this too is a lie. Superfluous, of course. Surely you aren’t stubborn enough to ignore my very clear instruction not to read anything about The Drama prior to watching it. Right? Right?!?
I’m familiar enough with human nature to know that a few of you will persist and trudge on despite my pleading. You want me to say something about this week’s film. I wrote these next few sentences for you.
The Drama is Kristoffer Borgli’s most well-realized film to date. The script, penned by the director himself, is a pitch-black satire about morality. Robert Pattinson and Zendaya are both characteristically excellent, starring opposite each other in leading roles.
But be warned, this film will forever split audiences and critics alike. The premise is polarizing, and it is often (by design) uncomfortable to watch. It’s the sort of film you’ll either love or hate.
Regardless of which bucket you fall into, your author will hear no arguments against the following: The Drama is a masterfully devious film that lulls you into believing you’re watching something familiar, just before giving you something morally confounding, gruesome, and poetic.

| oh, neat. |
A fact or two about the production that makes you say "oh, neat."
→ Costume designer Katina Danabassis purposefully styled Charlie and Emma in unisex clothes. Her words: “When you're in a relationship, you find a mirror within that person…It can really happen where all of a sudden you guys are both wearing the same shoe brands or the same shoes, sharing a wardrobe a little bit.”
→ The film was marketed with a fake RSVPable wedding invite. There was a fake engagement announcement printed in the Boston Globe with family backgrounds, academic credentials, and a wedding date. There was a wedding photography social media account with candids and sundown shots of Pattinson and Zendaya in character and in love.
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Every other edition, we conclude with a special feature — an original work of fiction completely unrelated to this week’s film. Normally, I (Blake) write the fiction.
For this edition, we have a very special treat. A fellow member of Tuesday Night Movie Night has agreed to publish their own original work of poetry with us. Brian is a brilliant poet, and his poem, Screaming, is beautiful and haunting and everything a poem should be. Please, enjoy.
If you want to see more of Brian’s work, check out his blog, Potter’s Musings.
Screaming.
By Brian Potter
Everyone spoke of
the accident but
I only half heard
because a baby
was screaming when you
handed me that es-
Say, and the next day
they passed a drop slip
at school when you got
married and your scream
echoed through the can-
yon. Then they cut you
out of the car and
flew you to Pocatell-
O, and I reread
that essay because
I could hear screaming
again like a baby, but
I never knew what
it was. Until now
that both of you are
dead.










