The Sugar Beat is a film about the contemporary economic predicament. Through a series of vignettes the narrative, a fabric woven from the thoughts of the people in the film itself, flows geographically through Bend, Oregon; Missoula, Montana; Havre, Montana; East Grand Forks, Minnesota; and many places in between as the director/producer travels the American countryside by bicycle. Philosophies of travel, struggle, life, and optimism are shared by everyday people, while the realities of homelessness, protest, consumer culture, locked-out labor, and seasonal labor form a backdrop for the viewer to juxtapose his/her own experiences. The Sugar Beat focuses attention on what is often overlooked and finds its context in the youthful upheaval being levied on the status quo of the world around.
—Anonymous