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Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli ... see more see more... , Jose Rijo , Ann Whitney , Richard Bull , Ellary Porterfield , Alina Vargas , Kevin Leonardo Garcia , Marcos Rosa , Walki Cuevas , Santo Silvestre , Emmanuel Nanita Carvajal , Cesar Emilio Minaya C. , Joendy Peņa Brown , Karl Bury , Zaida Alexandra Hernandez , Lilin Soto Gonzales , Dioni Feliciano , Teodosia Reyes , Walky Alvarez , Letilier A. Foy Jr. , Victor Manuel Adon

Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (Half Nelson) weave this introspective sports drama concerning a talented Dominican baseball player who longs to break into the American big league and earn the mo... read more read more...ney needed to support his impoverished family. Miguel Santos is a talented pitcher who might just have what it takes to earn a prized spot on a Major League Baseball team, but before that happens he'll have to prove his worth in the minor leagues. Advancing into the United States' minor league system at the tender age of 19, Miguel is warmly welcomed into the small-town Iowa home of his host family, but can't help but struggle with language and cultural barriers despite the kindness of strangers. Subsequently forced to reevaluate his life's ambition after his once-trusty arm becomes unreliable, the previously single-minded pitcher gradually begins to question both the world he lives in and the role he has chosen to play in it. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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R, 1 hr. 54 min.

Directed by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Release Date: January 21, 2008

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DVD Release Date: September 1, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (616)

  • cosmo313
    January 25, 2012
    cosmo313
    This was the follow up to Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's surprise hit Half Nelson, and, like that one, this is a smart, heartfelt tale that has a great message, but is still entertaining without being overly preachy.

    The story concerns 19 year-old Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a talented ... read morepitcher from the Dominican Republic who dreams of getting sent to the U.S. to make it big in the major leagues. Before he can get that far though, he has to start lower, and his big dreams start off with him being sent through the ranks of the minor leagues, where he ends up in a small Iowa town. His experiecnes there, mostly involving his struggles with a foreign language and culture cause him to start reevaluating his life's ambition and make him question if he's really on the right path in life.

    This is a sports movie, but not in the typical sense. It's mostly a character study about the immigrant experience in the U.S., with a nice examination specifically of Latin American and Caribbean athletes and how they fit into the big picture. I originally thought this was a documentary, or perhaps a docudrama, but no, the specific story is entirely fictional, though it is heavily influenced by real life stories

    That I thought this was non-fiction is a testament to Boden and Fleck's knowledge of the subject, and the high leve lof authenticity and honesty on display in the film. They did their homework, and realy know their stuff, and the result is a wonderful look at both the immigrant experience, and the world of immigrants in the minor leagues.

    If I have to air complaints, then I'll point out that the film's overall pacing could have been perhaps a bit tighter, and how the third act overall seems to lose a lot of momentum I thought. It doesn't derail completely, but it does start to drag. Also, the way the flm was done just seemed really "typical" to me. There's no denying this is an indie film, and it seems like the film wants that fact to be known. Kidna got to me a bit, especially since Boden and Fleck's other two major films are like that as well (to varying degrees).

    All in all though, this is a really decent film. It's got some good performances, a great message, and is an insightful look into a neat subject.
  • clintervin
    February 24, 2010
    clintervin
    This is not a sports film at all; Baseball is only the setting for a story of human experience. Sugar is a wonderfully crafted movie, a story of opportunity and adaptation made more effective through the perspective of an immigrant chasing his "one opportunity" for success. The j... read moreourney is fascinating, the progress from a baseball academy in the D.R. to living with an Iowa family and finally living in New York surronded by others who had made the journey before. Sugar is a uniquely American story told in a refreshingly honest way.
  • sanjurosamurai
    November 17, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    a wonderful baseball movie that sits tragically as a hidden gem. the end of the film left too much uncertainty for a character that we came to care about, but the journey we travel to the point of being left wondering is a heartfelt and worth while journey. if you love baseball... read more then watch this film, it leaves the normal cliches of overdone "feel good" sports films behind.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    October 20, 2009
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Welcome to America, son!"

    Dominican baseball star Miguel "Sugar" Santos is recruited to play in the U.S. minor-leagues.

    REVIEW

    Filmed in quasi-documentary style, the film appears on the surfac... read moree to be about the Latino dream of making it to the major leagues. Upon closer review, the family and friends of Sugar only ask "Are you going to the states?". The crux of the film lies not so much in the long odds of making it to the show, but moreso, simply escaping the homeland ... it's just that baseball is viewed as the quickest ticket out.

    The "Half Nelson" writer/director team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck score again with "Sugar". What really hit home with me was how many people miss out on their real chance because they just have a simple shortage of passion for their talent. When Sugar bashes the water cooler, it's not because he pitched poorly, but rather because he fears he will be shipped back home.

    There are many fine moments in this and the final act twist is not just terrific story telling, but fitting as well. It does what a final act should do ... connect the dots. Think back to the domino scene when one guy spouts that he once hit 98 in spring training. The recognition that he is back home playing dominoes is the real story. Good stuff.

    First time actor Algenis Perez Soto perfectly captures the charm and innocence of Sugar and finally the harsh reality of the situation. This is one to see.
  • hobster1
    October 14, 2009
    hobster1
    Fictional biography of a Dominican baseball player who is invited to try out in U.S. minor leagues, with the ultimate dream to play in the majors. Engrossing journey of our hero, Miguel 'Sugar' Santos takes us to places we do not expect to go in a typical sports drama. The event... read mores may not always be uplifting, but they are realistic, imbued with intelligence and heart. This quiet, but affecting story is anything but predictable. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's worthy follow-up to Half Nelson.
  • tsigur
    October 2, 2009
    tsigur
    First thing you should know is that I don't like baseball. I have never been a big fan, so the fact that this movie had me so intrigued is saying something. It's not just about baseball and it's definitely not something like a Ron Shelton movie. It's basically about a guy trying ... read moreto find his way to the majors from a poor upbringing in the Dominican Republic. It's a very bare bones, simple film and one of the things that excited me about it. Not a lot as far as plot really happens, but it is more of a character study and also a story of trying to adapt to an entirely different world where at any moment you could be thrown back to where you came from because of something simple as a bad outing on the mound. I loved the opening, but then it begins to drag in the middle with a stereo-typical "old white couple" and their pretty granddaughter taking the film down an unexpectedly ho hum route. Towards the end, I became more intrigued because it was a very realistic way of how this kind of story would end. Very well shot and acted and I appreciate Ryan Fleck (co-director who also directed Half Nelson) sticking with his strengths. The only thing is I would really love if everyone would stop talking about Iraq in movies just to seem topical.
  • gor41
    September 26, 2009
    gor41
    Intelligent immigrant tale with a lead performance played with an incredibly measured stillness and restraint by Soto. Stays clear of sentimentality and pat Hollywood cliches which often plague 'issue' movies.
  • dunmyer
    May 22, 2009
    dunmyer
    I had very high expectations for "Sugar," as it was written and directed by [b]Ryan Fleck[/b] and [b]Anna Boden[/b], the filmmakers who gave us "Half-Nelson," one of the most extraordinary films of the decade. But alas, "Sugar" has none of the magic of "Half-Nelson." It's not a b... read moread film, but it's nothing spectacular.

    The topic is very interesting. "Sugar" I believe is the first American film with a Dominican protagonist. This has been a long time coming. It's great to see this important immigrant group finally getting some attention. Dominicans are particularly important when it comes to American baseball, where they have a disproportionate influence. There are countless baseball stars who are Dominican, but I'm sure that most fans don't know that these stars are Dominican. I'm also sure that 98% of these fans could not find the Dominican Republic on a map. And white fans in New York have no doubt never been to a Dominican neighborhood, even when the neighborhood is right next door. Everyone ignores Dominicans.

    They occupy a unique place in American life today, with an odd mixture of influence and invisibility. I imagine that Fleck and Boden were attracted to this film idea because of the unique cultural position of Dominicans.

    "Sugar" is a work of fiction, but it feels almost like a documentary. We meet a young baseball player in the Dominican Republic. He plays in a league where scouts from Major League Baseball are constantly circling. They have their eye on this man, who is known to his friends as Azucar (sugar). His hometown is not much more than a shantytown, but he has a very loving family. Amidst all the poverty there is much love -- as is most often the case with Dominicans, in my experience. (I live in Washington Heights, the major Dominican neighborhood in New York City.)

    Sugar's great dream (and the dream of almost every Dominican male, it seems) is to be sent to the United States to play baseball. When the fantasy comes true, we go along for the ride, watching him try to deal with life in Iowa. Fleck and Boden emphasize the culture clash between Santo Domingo and Iowa but in ways that I thought were rather obvious.

    The baseball league sends Sugar to live with a lovable but clueless white family. It's funny to watch them speaking in the normal fashion, as if he's an English speaker. Yet he doesn't understand a word. Oddly, the baseball organization doesn't give any of the Latino players English lessons. I presume that this is something Fleck and Boden found out in their research. Why is it so difficult for Americans to offer immigrants English lessons? It's one of the great missing pieces in American life. We make it immensely difficult for immigrants to learn our language, then we judge them for not having learned it!

    The language barrier leads to social isolation, which is Sugar's greatest challenge. It is nearly impossible for him to interact with Americans socially, which causes a tremendous loneliness. We especially see his pain as he runs up against walls every time he tries to flirt with an American girl. There are hints of racism in this as Fleck and Boden depict it, which is no doubt true to life.

    Sugar's odyssey abruptly shifts at the midpoint of the film, the details of which I won't reveal, and the story moves to New York City. Here Sugar finally finds a Latino community, which is a great relief to him. But his struggles continue for other reasons.

    This sounds like an interesting story, but the direction is most often pedestrian. The script is also for the most part mundane. I can recommend the film but not very highly. Fleck and Boden had a great story idea and a great cast of Dominicans (led very well by newcomer [b]Algenis Soto[/b]), but they didn't execute very well. They seemed to be imitating the style of television directors instead of bringing their unique cinematic skills to the playing field.
  • DrZeek
    May 4, 2009
    DrZeek
    Player: Why do they call you Sugar?
    Santos: Well, I'm sweet with the ladies.
    Other Player: They call him Sugar because he eats so much dessert.

    From the writer/director team that made Half Nelson, comes a film following a baseball player from the Dominican Republic, coming to Am... read moreerica to play in the minor leagues, hoping to make it to the big leagues. Working with mostly non-actors and improved dialog, the movie works well at delivering a solid story.

    The main character, Sugar, is a pitcher, and a good one, but he is tested hard once he faces real games in the minor leagues. Constantly working to improve his game, battle his stress, and learn more and more English, Sugar goes through the motions of a fish out of water looking to become better. But this film throws a few curve balls (see what I did there) into this story, ending in a place very different from where it began.

    Being a big fan of Half Nelson, I quite enjoyed the style of this film as well. The story may seem familiar, but works very well. Sugar is a great character, played very well by newbie Algenis Perez Soto. It moves along at a fairly slow pace, but this film works very well with what it wants to do.

    Coach: Well you played with your emotions and your emotions got the best of you.
  • michaelneumann
    April 10, 2010
    michaelneumann
    Sugar is an ode to the immigrant story, and completely not what you'd expect from all the fastballs and sinkers hurled so early in the film. Every scene feels rich and yet edited smartly, efficiently moving from one scene to the next with only what you need. And that is essenti... read moreally what Miguel Santos, aka "Azúcar" ("Sugar") does in this movie. No-namer Algenis Perez Soto plays Sugar, a 19-yr. old Dominican pitching prospect basically working on a baseball farm in his native land and awaiting his chance to get sent Stateside. Family and friends in his lively yet clearly destitute community constantly inquire, "Are you going to the States yet?" which, at this point in the movie, is insinuated to mean catching his big break in baseball. But what we learn throughout the movie's journey is that the big break was really just as simple as the question: going to the States.

    The movie hooks the viewer with a common sports movie, rags-to-riches trajectory: Sugar gets called up to the U.S. for spring training in Arizona, impresses several scouts, and is assigned to Single A baseball in... Iowa. His paychecks, even as a minor-leaguer, still excite him, as he sends so much of it to his family in the Dominican Republic. His pitching debut on the field draws great applause from the local Iowan crowd and praise from onlooking analysts. But gradually, Sugar's cultural dislocation distresses him. He knows a pocketful of English words, keeping him always at pitching arm's length from nearly everybody in this new, Midwestern small-town community he's summering in, even though there are moments where it looks like he's making connections. Then the sports movie expectations come off the rails. Sugar is sidelined with an injury, his lone Spanish-speaking friend in Iowa, Jorge, is cut from the team, and a new pitching phenom is added, finding himself under mounting pressure to perform well on the mound, with so much at stake - such as supporting his family back home. And quite naturally, he begins to unravel. His on-field issues exacerbate his struggles to meld with the small-town culture, leaving him vulnerable and doubting his baseball ambitions. He then makes a surprising decision that underscores the film's quiet tragedy in unrealized dreams, and yet emboldens the viewer in maybe discovering a different kind of dream that America surely offers. And it's all played so matter-of-factly, with no grandstanding, embellished drama, or "actor's scenes" - all a very realist-style story arc. As you see Sugar settle into a new community with familiar languages and even finding old pal Jorge, you can't help but recall when Sugar, drinking beers with his buddies back in the Dominican before leaving for spring training, and one of them shares his story about once having thrown a 98-mph fastball in the minor leagues. And yet there he was, just a regular guy on an island in the Caribbean, living like he was before he left. Knowing that there are many versions of his story, and that there are versions of Sugar's story, is how the film quietly blows you away.

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Critic Reviews

Tom Long
May 8, 2009
Tom Long, Detroit News

This is a film that finds certain purity in disillusionment and freedom in failure. Which may not be sweet, but it is tasty. Full Review

Ann Hornaday
April 30, 2009
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

With the moving, absorbing drama Sugar, Boden and Fleck not only avoid the sophomore slump, they demolish it, delivering a film of rare intelligence, beauty and compassion. Full Review

Colin Covert
April 23, 2009
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Put this one in the Win column. Full Review

Steven Rea
April 23, 2009
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's film is a modest but masterful triumph. Full Review

Rick Groen
April 17, 2009
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

The film's strength is reportorial, sensitively exploring a theme that has grown ever more prominent with the globalization of sport. Full Review

J. R. Jones
April 17, 2009
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

This is a drama of shifting values and compromised ideals, arriving at a view of life that's wise, complicated, and tinged with melancholy. Full Review

Peter Howell
April 17, 2009
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Sugar is a departure from movies of its kind in quietly observing that life is often a series of base hits rather than grand-slam homers. The film has few moments of high drama and the games played ma... Full Review

Claudia Puig
April 16, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Easily one of the year's best, Sugar is an intelligent and sublimely moving film that should not be missed. Full Review

Roger Ebert
April 16, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Algenis Perez Soto plays the character so openly, so naturally, that an interesting thing happens: Baseball is only the backdrop, not the subject. This is a wonderful film. Full Review

Roger Moore
April 15, 2009
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

This Sugar doesn't blend the sweet with the bittersweet as deftly as it might have. Full Review

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