'Sugar' an outstanding sports film
Directors: Anna Boden/Ryan Fleck
Cast: Algenis Perez Soto, Andre Holland, Ellary Porterfield
Few sports have been captured well on screen, with the honourable exception of boxing and baseball and this gently-paced, almost documentary in nature, elevates the latter to a fine, sympathetic artform.
The game itself is important for its background but the life and times of the central character is treated with compassion and detail.
Miguel ‘Sugar’ Santos is a Dominican Republican playing in the minors who is taken up by a team in America’s Bible Belt, where his poor English makes fitting in and communicating difficult. The story follows his ups and downs.
It is a ‘small’ yet beautifully formed drama in which Soto is outstanding.
Star Rating: 5/5
