Sugar (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:

Algenis Perez Soto, Jose Rijo, Walki Cuevas

2 wins & 7 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?

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | nickname as title | title directed by female | baseball | minor league | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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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:

24 April 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Dominican Project

Filming Locations:

Burlington, Iowa, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$60,140, 5 April 2009

Gross USA:

$1,082,124

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,144,438

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Films, Journeyman Pictures, Hunting Lane Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After this film was shot, the name of the team in Iowa was changed from the Swing of the Quad Cities to its former team name of the Quad Cities River Bandits.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Fast & Furious/Adventureland/Sugar (2009)

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Soundtracks

Me and U
Written by Ryan Leslie
Performed by Cassie Ventura (as Cassie)
Courtesy of Bad Boy Records, LLC
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Sugar: Sweet as a story, but not a baseball movie

Baseball movies are often deemed cliché in today's world of cinema. You have a team or a player the film focuses around, they're usually underdogs or feel good stories, they have an improbable season and the end result is usually a championship for the team, or a life altering moment for a player. The movie, Sugar goes completely against this modern day norm.

As a baseball movie, Sugar won't stand-alone. What does set it aside is the cultural quantum leap the main character endures. The films main character, Miguel Santos, whose nickname is the movies namesake, is the hero of his small, Dominican Republican village, as a pitcher with lively arm, an ideal build, and terrific upside. He receives mounting pressure from his family and the community to become the next Dominican baseball star, and eventually gets his shot. It's a reminder for every Sammy Sosa and Pedro Martinez who makes it from the Dominican Republic; hundreds of others burn out and are never heard from again.

It's the off the diamond aspects of the opportunity he gets that makes the movie an interesting character piece. Short, and seemingly innocuous scenes help build the movie, and show the struggle that Santos endures in his assimilation to Americanized life, which ultimately correlates to his performance on the field. As mentioned, as a baseball movie it goes away from the norm, Hollywood cookie cutter of a sports movie, but as an allegory of the struggle that millions of Latino baseball players go through, it couldn't be more spot on.

For a person with virtually zero prior acting experience, Algenis Perez Soto gives a noble performance as the films protagonist. He's never really asked to go outside his main personality, which is stoic and monotonous, but he has a few moments where he breaks off, and his ability to act at emotional pinnacles are shown. Surely this won't be the end of his acting career, as he virtually won the acting lottery by randomly being selected for a lead in a semi-major motion picture. Most of the actors don't have enough of a part in the movie to shine, as no other character was given enough screen time to even be considered a strong supporting actor.

The writing and story is thorough in its sports detail, which a baseballs junkie would enjoy, but the average moviegoer might not understand. The subplots in the movie like the love story and the conflicts surrounding the supporting characters lack substance. Those subplots, along with the characters involved in it seem to just disappear abruptly. The story is somewhat episodic, divided into a few large parts, with none of those parts supporting characters carrying on through the movie. As a whole, the movie takes on a slow pace, and sometimes struggles to keep the interest of the viewer.

If you plan on seeing Sugar, don't go in expecting a team to pull in a superstar to save the day in the last second, or for the main character to pitch a World Series no-hitter, or you'll be disappointed. Mainly, don't go into the movie expecting a baseball movie, or you won't be satisfied. In the end, the movie lacks a punch that would make it stand out, but gets my praise for tackling a plot that usually will end with a cold dose of reality.

Rating: 7/10