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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Sugar Stars: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Furino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli, Ann Whitney, Richard Bull, Eliary Porterfield and Alina Vargas Directors/Scriptwriters: Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden Composer: Michael Brock Cinematography: Andrij Parekh HBO Films No rating but could be PG 13 for language and sexual content Running Length: 118 minutes What is the All-American Game? For many, it is baseball and that is what Sugar is all about. The story follows a talented young pitcher from the Dominican Republic on his way to fame via a baseball school, then spring training and being picked up by a smaller town affiliated with a major league team. Here, it is the “Kansas City Knights.” Sugar is the nickname for Miguel Soto and his sweet pitching. Name ball players who have come from the Dominican Republic include Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz. Though the players coming to the U.S. may know baseball, they have to go through culture shock and it can be amusing and serious. We are introduced to Sugar as a young man in a sort of training school for future players. He has made the cut to be there, but is shy and keeps to himself. This will haunt Sugar through his baseball years, as the talent is there, but not always the ability to express himself either verbally or socially. Family pressure is on Sugar, also, as his father is dead and his mother works in a factory to keep the family together. Becoming a name ball player would bring fame and fortune to the family, who are near the poverty level. Sugar advances to spring training where he goes to Phoenix. The barrier is not skin color as it is language and in one episode, Sugar keeps ordering French toast for breakfast because he can’t say “eggs” in English. Eventually, he moves further up the sports ladder and goes to a minor league town, Bridgewater, Iowa. What, you say? Well, this town is baseball savvy and knows statistics better than many announcers. Sugar stays with a farm couple, the Higgins (Ann Whitney and Richard Bull), who are kind and try to make a home for him. Bridgewater is where you can hear corn grow and it isn’t long before Sugar is lonesome for his girlfriend back in the Dominican Republic, his family and starts being friendly to a local white girl. There are problems and his pitching ability goes downhill. How Sugar deals with these situations shows the maturing of a young man and though you may not agree with his decisions, he is in charge of his life, which could have included a course in dealing with people. This is a laid-back film that builds on you. Photography by Andrij Parekh is wonderfully done from the beaches of the Dominican Republic to the quietness of an Iowa farm. There is a great tracking shot showing Sugar entering the small town, walking down a street and through an arcade. Michael Brook’s soundtrack has the brightness of the Caribbean and life in the U.S. Algenis Perez Soto is an athlete who happens to be an actor, too. Perhaps, he is too solemn and the implication is that his character of Sugar is slow in learning, but watch his eyes and you find that Sugar’s mind is working, it is verbally that he can’t express himself. Ann Whitney and Richard Bull as the Higgins show warmth as they try to make a home for a different sports figure each year and truly want to help. All in all, Sugar shows the love of baseball and from the eyes of a young man who loves it, too, but doesn’t know how to use baseball to take him places. This will hurt not only Sugar but his family. So few players even get as far as Sugar, yet the game has a siren’s lure. Copyright 2009 Marie Asner