Joel Alfonso Vargas’s debut feature film navigates complex themes such as class struggles, coming of age, and family relationships. Vargas’s semi-improvised dialogue and naturalistic performances carry on the tradition of Neorealism while managing to spark something fresh in the audience. The film tells the story of Rico, a young Dominican-American teenager who spends his summer days selling mixed drinks on the beach. Rico shares a Bronx apartment with his mother and his sister Sally. Vargas plays with notions of intimacy and solitude both in his cinematography and in the relationships between characters. Throughout the narrative, a loving yet complicated portrait of family life emerges, shaped around Rico’s journey into adulthood. With its layered characters, narrative turns, and richly textured setting, the film creates a vivid world that immediately draws viewers in. As Vargas tells the story of a modern New York, he pulls the audience into Rico’s small universe — one that feels hard to leave once the film ends.