Sugar (I) (2008)

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

Directors:

Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Writers:

Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Stars:

Jose Rijo, Walki Cuevas, Algenis Perez Soto

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jose Rijo	...	Alvarez
Walki Cuevas	...	Alfonso
Algenis Perez Soto	...	Miguel
Santo Silvestre	...	Umpire #1
Emmanuel Nanita Carvajal	...	Reyes
Cesar Emilio Minaya C.	...	Pedro
Joendy Pena Brown	...	Marcos
Kelvin Leonardo Garcia	...	Salvador
Marcos Rosa	...	Sanchez
Karl Bury	...	Rudy
Zaida Alexandra Hernandez	...	Erica
Lilin Soto Gonzales	...	Abuela
Dioni Feliciano	...	Luis
Teodosia Sanchez Reyes	...	Carmen
Walky Alvarez	...	Sofia

Storyline

By 2008, more than 25 percent of major league baseball players were born in Latin America. At 19, Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a serious kid from the Dominican Republic, signs with Kansas City. He flies to Phoenix for tryouts and is sent to the Class A team "The Swing" in the fictional town of Bridgetown, Iowa, where he lives with a farm family. Thus begins his odyssey: leaving his mom and girlfriend; living in an alien culture; learning English; overcoming jitters; working hard; achieving early success; navigating friendships, occasional racism, and a woman's mixed signals; dealing with an injury; trying performance-enhancing drugs; and, searching for his place in the world. Will he make it to the Majors; will he play in New York?

---

Plot Keywords:

baseball | minor league | dominican republic | rags to riches | caribbean | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Sport

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Dominican Republic

Language:

Spanish English

Release Date:

5 June 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Untitled Dominican Project

Filming Locations:

Burlington, Iowa, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$60,140 (USA) (3 April 2009)

Gross:

$1,081,922 (USA) (7 August 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Films, Journeyman Pictures, Hunting Lane Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the last names of the Quad City Swing players in the film were those of actual players on the team. However, they were not portrayed by the real Swing players. During filming, the real players were still in their regular season and then post-season.

---

Goofs

In the "thank you" list during the end credits Iowa Governor Chet Culber is mentioned. The governor's name is Culver, not Culber.

---

Quotes

Earl Higgins: No drinking. No cervezas in the casa. No chicas in the bedroom.

---

Connections

References American Idol (2002)

---

Soundtracks

"Se Partio El Lapiz"
Written by Manuel Varet
Performed by Vakero featuring Arcangel
Courtesy of Jeremy Records/Sunflower Entertainment Co., Inc.

User Reviews

Sugar is sweet!

There are a plethora of Dominican baseball stars in the Major Leagues which have become all-stars such as Pedro Martinez, Hanley Ramirez, Sammy Sosa, Robinson Cano, and David "Big Papi" Ortiz; and that is just the microcosm of the Domincanos who have had major contributions to "la pelota". But for every one Hanley or Robinson or even Big Papi, there are tons of Sugars who are vying to find that ticket to the MLB show. "Sugar" is a noble and touching narrative of Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a young Dominican pelotero who heads to the states to play Single A minor league baseball. "Sugar" accentuates the taste buds of young Dominicanos who want to better their lives and support their families by succeeding in the sport they love the most. But "Sugar" is even more than that; it also focuses on the adjustment process that they go through in the United States especially within the language barrier hurdles. Santos is the archetype of that description and the story of "Sugar" effectively catches on to that. Santos is a bit of a curveball character with his diversified personality traits; he could be funny, sad, angry, immature, friendly, appreciative, selfish or loving. But overall Santos is more on the santo side of the character ball on how he fixates on succeeding at his craft to primarily send his mother money in order to raise funds to build her a new home and also build her a new table. "Santos" is surrounded by other screwball Dominican characters on the same minor league voyage as Sugar, which bring some relief to the sheer entertainment value of the film especially when it seemed that the movie was going to take a walk on the melodramatic side. The promising writer-director team of Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, who also helmed the indie darling "Half Nelson", did run most of the bases of authentic film-making in pitching the "Sugar" story to audiences. However, I wished they would of have used the "cutter" more when it came to the creepy scenes of Sugar's admiration to the granddaughter of the Iowan family he was staying with. I am not going to sugarcoat this: Algenis Perez Soto's performance as Sugar was sporadically amateurish, but being his first acting performance I must state that he has mucho potential to make a mound of money in the thespian field. "Sugar" is set first in the Dominican Republic, then in Iowa, and lastly in New York. Even though the New York act plays a critical factor in the film's narrative climax, it felt a bit too stretched out. Nevertheless, I do recommend "Sugar" and do feel that you should not be "Sugar" free in your movie watching experience. **** Good