This Looks Good: Sugar Starring Algenis Perez Soto

If you’ve ever wondered what Dominicans who barely speak English feel like when they come to America to play in the majors, you might enjoy Sugar, from Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the writer/director team who brought you Half Nelson.  And if you’ve never even considered such a question, you’ll probably still like it anyway.

Sugar is the story of 19-year-old Dominican pitching phenom Miguel “Sugar” Santos, played by Algenis Perez Soto, (himself a Dominican and one-time Major League hopeful), who has recently relocated to a small Iowa town after being drafted to the minors. Sugar is coping with the intensity of the situation and trying to make it to the majors while still learning English. Drama for sure, but what about the baseball? LA Times Dodger blogger Jon Wiesman says, thanks to the foreign (no pun) nature of the Dominican baseball factory to Hollywood, this is no Kevin Costner movie.

This isn’t a movie with swelling music. This isn’t a movie whose climax depends on the ninth inning of the final game. It’s a movie that acknowledges 1) the reality that baseball is the dream of many and 2) the reality that it is a dream that doesn’t come true for many. And that’s not to say that the film’s ending is happy or sad. It just feels right.

Sugar premieres in Los Angeles and New York on Friday and throughout the country after that. The trailer is below.