Sugar

SUGAR

The talented team that brought us Half Nelson, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, are back again with Sugar -- a film about gifted baseball player Miguel (Algenis Perez Soto), who is recruited from the Dominican Republic to play in America's minor leagues. Miguel lands on a farm in Bridgetown, Iowa, where he boards with an elderly Christian family. No one speaks Spanish, and the only life he has is on the ball field. But the pang of dislocation and a sudden losing streak on the field start to weigh heavily on Miguel's spirits. One fabulous moment in the film follows Miguel as he wanders through a noisy mall, where snatches of loud voices and arcade games make you really feel the sense of alienation and loneliness. Perez Soto is not a trained actor, but he has a sweetness and moral gravity to him that ground the film and give it bittersweet vibrancy.