Review: ‘Sugar’

After the United States, the Dominican Republic has the second highest number of baseball players in Major League Baseball and many (Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez ) have been regarded as among the best in the game. SUGAR is an excellent and surprising new baseball movie from writer/director team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (HALF NELSON) about a wide-eyed young Dominican pitcher who comes to America to get his shot at the big leagues. Part conventional sports movie, part fish-out-of-water immigration drama, Bode and Fleck switch smoothly between the genres and take the story in unexpected directions. You may think you know exactly where SUGAR is going, but you’ll be wrong.

We first meet 20-year-old Miguel “Sugar” Soto (played by Algenis Perez Soto, a natural non-actor discovered on the mound by Bode and Fleck) as the star pitcher for a Boca Chica, Dominican Republic farm team. A hero to his family and the residents of his impoverished home town, Sugar must compete with many others like himself for a minor league tryout. With his mean curve ball, Sugar impresses an American talent scout and is invited to attend spring training in Phoenix. Wowing them there, he’s quickly promoted to Kansas City’s single-A minor team that plays in Bridgetown Iowa, where most of SUGAR takes place. Sugar excels at the game but struggles personally. With a very limited grasp of English (he only orders French Toast at restaurants because it’s the only item he can safely pronounce), Sugar boards with the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, an elderly farming couple devoted to the local team, and faces dramatic obstacles brought on cultural and language barriers. SUGAR’s smart script broadly contrasts the culture gap between Sugar’s ethnic background and the Higgin’s heartland values. Sugar is unable to communicate meaningfully with the Higgins, his teammates, or his coaches and fumbles his romantic overtures towards his host’s Christian granddaughter. When Sugar is sidelined by an injury and his pitching game is off, the film takes an even darker turn involving steroids and harsh truths. His team’s manager (Johnny Marx) is sympathetic but results-oriented and begins to doubt Sugar’s worth to the team. Soon after his best friend Jorge (Rayniel Rufino), a fellow Dominican, is cut from the team and heads to New York City, Sugar makes a startling decision that leads to the unexpected final leg of his journey.

Soto, new to acting, is the charismatic center of this low-key character study and his obvious baseball skills give the film much real authenticity. The story may be fictional but the details are not and baseball fans will find a lot to like here as SUGAR abounds with many realistic observations about life in the minor leagues. There are many sad moments in SUGAR but it is ultimately honest and uplifting and I don’t want to spoil the many surprises it offers, especially in it’s third act. Sugar may or may not achieve his dream, but he learns some strong lessons about life and destiny. Perhaps too leisurely paced for some tastes and mostly in Spanish-language, I hope SUGAR finds the wide audience it deserves. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good baseball movie and SUGAR is one of the best I’ve seen.

‘Sugar’ opens today in Saint Louis at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

[Overall: 4.5 stars out of 5]