Movie review: Sugar

Some dreams change.

by John P. Meyer

Let's cut right to the chase on this one: Sugar is the most enthralling human film story I've seen so far this year. And by "human" I mean both a) non-animated, and b) involved with in the human condition.

Filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (interviewed here) resurrect the naturalistic, unobtrusive, documentary-look filmmaking style they employed to such brilliant effect in Half Nelson for this improbably fascinating tale of a Dominican baseball player with big-league U.S. aspirations, who finds the experience of living and working stateside a far different one than he had imagined.

When we first meet Miguel "Sugar" Santos (played as if he was born to the role - which he more or less was - by first-time actor Algenis Perez Soto), he's hurling strikes at one of the D.R. baseball camps set up by major league teams to recruit raw talent into their ranks. A talent scout from the Kansas City Knights, watching from the sidelines, is impressed with the way Sugar dispatches one batter after another, and asks the camp manager whether he can "throw any junk."

(He can't - but he's a quick study.)

We get an up-close, personal look at domestic Dominica in the early part of the film as we're introduced to Miguel's family and friends; we're a fly on the wall as Sugar puts on a pitching demonstration in the streets of Consuelo to show off his new "junk-throwing" ability. When the ball digs a trench in front of his impromptu catcher, Sugar explains: "I'm still working on the mechanics."

Miguel has soon mastered the knuckler, and with that appended to his list of talents he earns a place on the roster of KC's farm team in Iowa. Here, he moves in with a family of local boosters who serve as hosts to visiting ballplayers. Earl and Helen Higgins (played with scary authenticity by Richard Bull and Ann Whitney) are nothing if not accommodating - though Earl does lay down a few rules straight away: "No cervezas in the casa; no chicas in the bedroom." Pretty straighforward.

Speaking of chicas, one that Sugar takes a shine to is the Higgins' daughter Anne (Ellary Porterfield, the epitome of cornsilk-haired, fresh-faced, heartland beauty). She's friendly and seems to be receptive to his attention, but the possibility arises that she may have ulterior evangelical motives.

Miguel performs splendidly at first in front of the hometown fans, but the fact that this movie will not turn into a Hollywood formula baseball drama (a la The Natural) soon becomes evident, as distractions off the field multiply and he runs into difficulties performing at the level expected of him by the team office. The wonderful Michael Gaston plays manager Stu Sutton, who attempts to lead Sugar down the path of minor league righteousness when he falters on the field and resorts to illegal substances to enhance his pitching performance. But by then Sugar has come to grips with the fact that his dream of a life in America may be ripe for radical alteration.

The wonderment of Sugar lies in the way that we're seeing America through the eyes of an outsider, as if for the first time. It's an awe-inspiring, overwhelming place in which it's a challenge simply to maintain one's focus. We feel Miguel's pain - and his desperate isolation - as he attempts to make sense of it all. We recognize him as a truly special person with the strength and self-confidence to struggle forward regardless of apparently insurmountable obstacles; and we get a rejuvenated look at the U.S. of A. as a land unique for providing the opportunity to change life-direction horses in the middle of the stream.