Sugar…

Sugar Review

09 Jun 2009

Critics rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Reviewed by Tom Charity , LOVEFiLM

For a young man growing up in the shanty towns of Dominican Republic, two career opportunities seem the likeliest prospects when it comes to finding work...

… selling mobile phones is one. Playing baseball is the other.

No prizes for guessing which career path 19-year-old Miguel Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) opts for when the US scouts come calling. Miguel – nicknamed “Sugar” – has a peach of a right arm. Along with two dozen of his peers – this year’s crop – he is issued a temporary work visa and sent to the US minor leagues for the summer. That’s where his future will be decided.

Sugar

Starring Joendy Pena Brown, Richard Bull, Karl Bury, Greg D'Agostino

Director Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Genres Drama, Sport

Run time 114 mins Certificate 15

Cast details

Ryan Fleck

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Sugar lands up in Iowa, playing for the (fictional) Kansas City Knights. He is given a room on a Midwestern farm where the elderly couple (Richard Bull and Ann Whitney) are baseball fanatics and down home Christians. They show him every kindness, take him to church, and work with him on his minimal English. They also have a granddaughter (Ellary Porterfield), who could be a prospect of another kind.

A couple of years ago writer-director team Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden came up with a startling, fresh variation on the classroom movie, Half Nelson.

Their follow-up has no more in common with most sports movies than Half Nelson had with Grange Hill. For a start, we scarcely see the outcome of any of the games. In an environment where winning is everything that’s a radical gesture.

Fleck and Boden?s approach is naturalistic and self-effacing. They shy away from melodrama, preferring to observe how relationships develop and perceptions shift in subtle, incremental scenes.

Sugar: Algenis Perez Soto

If Ryan Gosling gave an electrifying performance in Half Nelson, newcomer Soto is equally central to Sugar, and just as compelling, but in an entirely different register. Gosling?s character was a talker, articulate and self-dramatizing. Soto’s scarcely speaks English. He is alone and bewildered in a world unlike any he has known before. Yet his face is an eloquent index of the conflicted emotions he experiences as his pitching form fluctuates and his confidence sags.

Refreshingly, Fleck and Boden resist the temptation to caricature the Midwesterners. These are plain, decent folk who mean well, but whose own life experience is too narrow to truly understand what their guest is going through.

If Ryan Gosling gave an electrifying performance in Half Nelson, newcomer Soto is equally central to Sugar, and just as compelling, but in an entirely different register.

So don’t be put off if you’re not into baseball. The film is really about immigration and economic exploitation; that, and a young man finding his feet in the world. Truth be told, it’s an anti-sports movie, at least in the cutthroat competitive sense that we usually see. In A League of Their Own Tom Hanks insists that “there is no crying in baseball”. Well, you might find a lump in your throat before this fine film is done.

Sugar Reviews

Critic's review of Sugar
View all critics' reviews (6)
- [A] film of rare intelligence, beauty and compassion....Boden and Fleck have an easy, unhurried style, which suits this story well, especially in capturing the lilting rhythms of a minor-league baseball game on a balmy summer night
- 54423
- - Washington Post
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
Most helpful member's review of Sugar
View all members' reviews (8)
- - 5
  - 2
  Supprisingly good!
  
  This film had everything going against it for me. It's got baseball in it, it's an emotional drama, it's mostly in Spanish and subtitled. However, I... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 814324
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - ooosmokeyooo
  - 3 reviews
  - Scarborough
  - 24 Sep 2009 at 20:54
Most recent members' reviews of Sugar
View all members' reviews (8)
- - 1
  - 1
  This movie deserves more recognition
  
  Even if you are not a baseball fan, the topics touched on by this film is comparable to anything involving the struggles of poor or underprivileged people ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1048312
- - Paqman78
  - 4 reviews
  - London
  - 06 Oct 2011 at 10:24
- - 1
  - 0
  Hidden gem
  
  HBO are probably responsible for some of the best American films of the last few years. This is another of those hidden gems. No huge stars, no commercial ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 877856
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - SeekerSolace
  - 36 reviews
  - Oxford
  - 29 Mar 2010 at 09:11
- - 0
  - 1
  Sweetex
  
  I loved Anna Boden and Ryan Flecks Half Nelson it was brilliantly subtle and I was hoping for more of the same from Sugar.
  
  Whereas the topic is a ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 865585
- - Maccacan
  - 7 reviews
  - Manchester
  - 24 Feb 2010 at 14:07
View all members' reviews (8)

- - 5
  - 2
  Supprisingly good!
  
  This film had everything going against it for me. It's got baseball in it, it's an emotional drama, it's mostly in Spanish and subtitled. However, I... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 814324
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - ooosmokeyooo
  - 3 reviews
  - Scarborough
  - 24 Sep 2009 at 20:54
- - 4
  - 0
  good
  
  not bad when u get in 2 hit good story
  
  Report this review
- 829748
- - scorpion
  - 538 reviews
  - Mexborough
  - 10 Nov 2009 at 17:14
- - 1
  - 0
  So much more than a sporting story
  
  I was enthralled by this film. It covers so many different issues and manages to be totally authentic and thought-provoking with every one of them. Yes it's... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 817449
- - norfolkdave
  - 11 reviews
  - Wymondham
  - 04 Oct 2009 at 00:05
- - 1
  - 0
  Hidden gem
  
  HBO are probably responsible for some of the best American films of the last few years. This is another of those hidden gems. No huge stars, no commercial ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 877856
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - SeekerSolace
  - 36 reviews
  - Oxford
  - 29 Mar 2010 at 09:11
- - 1
  - 1
  Not Great
  
  This movie is not a great watch. It's extremely slow, you find yourself waiting for something to happen!! Anything!! It's abit frustrating, and abit of ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 824780
- - a customer
  - Wirral
  - 26 Oct 2009 at 14:28
- - 1
  - 1
  This movie deserves more recognition
  
  Even if you are not a baseball fan, the topics touched on by this film is comparable to anything involving the struggles of poor or underprivileged people ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1048312
- - Paqman78
  - 4 reviews
  - London
  - 06 Oct 2011 at 10:24
- - 0
  - 1
  Sugar = Fantastic
  
  You don't need to be a baseball fan to love this film. Very well made.
  
  Report this review
- 834940
- - a customer
  - London
  - 27 Nov 2009 at 13:32
- - 0
  - 1
  Sweetex
  
  I loved Anna Boden and Ryan Flecks Half Nelson it was brilliantly subtle and I was hoping for more of the same from Sugar.
  
  Whereas the topic is a ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 865585
- - Maccacan
  - 7 reviews
  - Manchester
  - 24 Feb 2010 at 14:07

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Critics' reviews
- [A] film of rare intelligence, beauty and compassion....Boden and Fleck have an easy, unhurried style, which suits this story well, especially in capturing the lilting rhythms of a minor-league baseball game on a balmy summer night
- 54423
- - Washington Post
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
- The sustained delicacy of SUGAR's tone and its layered explorations of a unique milieu make this a moving and memorable effort from one of indie cinema's most promising young filmmaking teams
- 54411
- - Box Office
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
- [A] wise and lovely new film....Infused with a deep affection for baseball, the rhythms of which are nimbly captured by a narrative pace and editing style that quicken and relax as necessary
- 54418
- - New York Times
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
- It's a beautifully made film about a young man's journey of self-discovery....SUGAR is as good as it is because of the care and skill writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck bring to it
- 54417
- - Los Angeles Times
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
- Algenis Perez Soto, a young baseball player in his acting debut, embodies Sugar with a natural sincerity....Baseball is only the backdrop, not the subject. This is a wonderful film
- 54412
- - Chicago Sun
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02
- [T]his is a sports drama of total originality, as well as the most authentic inside view of the immigrant experience the movies have given us in quite a while...
- 54415
- - Entertainment Weekly
  - 30 Jun 2009 at 03:02

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