Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Sugar Blu-ray Movie Review

'Sugar' tosses a good game on Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 20, 2009

Just remember that until you reach the top there's always guys above you hustling to keep you down here and guys below you pushing to take your jobs.

Baseball may be America's pastime, but there's no denying the sport's allure the world over. From Canada to South Korea, from Japan to the Dominican Republic, the international baseball scene has captured the hearts and minds of fans all around the globe and produced top talent that has propelled teams to the top of the standings in both professional leagues abroad and in the Major Leagues in the United States and Canada. What was once a sport dominated by names like Ted Williams, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth has enjoyed the injection of countless foreign-born players over the past several decades -- Roberto Clemente, Fernando Valenzuela, Byung-Hyun Kim, and Ichiro Suzuki, for instance -- that have become legends and heroes to millions in not only Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Seattle, but in the biggest cities and poorest villages around the world. Perhaps baseball's top hub for burgeoning talent lies in the Dominican Republic, a small Caribbean nation that lies east of Cuba. Growing up playing the game with twigs for bats and milk cartons for gloves, the absolute love for the game and millions of dollars that await the next flame-throwing pitcher, mashing first baseman, or slick fielding shortstop has yielded some of the best in the game and plenty of players with the pedigree to someday find their names enshrined at Baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York: Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins, Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, Pedro Martinez of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Vladimir Guererro of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Sugar ponders the long journey ahead.

Twenty-year-old Dominican right-handed pitcher Miguel "Sugar" Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) plays for the fictitious Kansas City Knights' baseball academy in his home country. After learning a "spike curve" from a scout that promises to add more bite to his breaking pitch, Sugar is given the opportunity to travel to the team's spring training facility in Arizona and try and make the roster of one of the team's Minor League affiliates. With 75 pitchers competing for 50 roster spots, Sugar manages to impress the coaching staff enough to earn him an extended stay in the States, playing for the organization's A-Ball Minor League affiliate, the Swing of Bridgetown, Iowa. Sugar stays with the wholesome midwestern Higgins family, struggles with the language and culture barrier, and sees his friends come and go as they are promoted, demoted, or outright released from the organization. On top of all that's going on with his life, Sugar must prove himself worthy of the roster spot, a task he finds increasingly difficult as he attempts to manage his short-fused temperament, doubts his future, fights through injuries, and struggles to get opposing hitters out.

Sugar is a movie that's bound to surprise moviegoers expecting more of the same clichéd rags-to-riches sort of experience. Despite its sweet-sounding name and fireworks on the poster, Sugar is a raw, hard-hitting, real, and sometimes depressing examination of the difficulties faced on the path to stardom and the road through life. Sugar tells a brutally honest story that's devoid of glamour and certainly not the norm for a sports movie, particularly considering the string of feel-good motion pictures that have dotted the cinematic landscape over the past several decades, focusing on baseball or otherwise. Whereas films like Field of Dreams and The Rookie look at the sport of baseball through rose-colored glasses and ignore the nitty-gritty realities of life before the Show, Sugar resists the temptation to play it safe and instead focuses on what it takes not necessarily to make it to the Major Leagues, but to make it as a man. Sugar is a film not about baseball but about life and the joy, the sorrow, the struggles, and the pain that define its every moment, whether on the dirt roads of the Dominican Republic or in the middle of the baseball diamond in small town, USA.

Sugar is packed with symbolism that reinforces its theme of the struggle to reach the top and succeed both at baseball and in life, with two examples standing above the rest to be found throughout the movie. The team name -- the Knights -- brings to mind thoughts of power and regality associated with those that make it, the term hinting even at a religious, timeless, and honor-bound code and sense of invincibility no matter the odds. Everyone wants to be a Knight, but only a rare breed with the skills, smarts, and drive ever make it to the round table or, in this case, the diamond that's made of dirt but stood upon by those adorned with sliver and gold. "Bridgetown" and the seemingly endless bridge that's always over Sugar's shoulder while on the mound inside the Swing's home ballpark serves as a constant reminder of not only the whole journey but the long and seemingly endless road ahead to get to the promised land. The ballpark seems but a speck against its never-ending grandeur, the Swing but a rest area that's far from home but even further from the fulfillment of a dream.

Clearly meaningful and exceptionally conceived and well-written, Sugar also succeeds thanks to the talent both in front of and behind the camera. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) frame the action rather subtly during the film's more dramatic scenes, while audiences are placed on the field and often over Sugar's shoulder during the baseball segments that allows viewers to better grasp the speed, joy, and frustration of every pitch with a handheld style. The directors first introduce audiences to a joyous world made of hope and happiness as burgeoning stars strut their stuff and dream of one day playing in the Major Leagues. It's a world that is at once instantly familiar and easily recognizable for the palpable aspirations of baseball-hungry young men but also feels worlds away from the bright lights of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the aroma of beer at Coors field, or the sound of infield chatter and baseballs popping leather gloves at PNC Park. As the film progresses, it begins to take on notes of sadness and despair as the happy-go-lucky exuberance of the first half gives way to the harsh realities of both baseball and the unforgiving world around it. Bringing the film's ups and downs together is the young Dominican actor Algenis Perez Soto in his debut performance as Sugar. Despite his status as a rookie on the credit sheet, Soto delivers a Major League veteran performance in front of the camera. His eyes serve as a constant glimpse into his topsy-turvy soul that throughout the course of the picture experiences joyous highs and tragic lows. Soto's performance is nothing short of extraordinary; it's physically reserved but emotionally deep and meaningful, a powerful and must-see effort that takes the film from "good" to "exemplary."

Sugar Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sugar toes the mound with a quality 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer. Strong, natural, film-like, and pleasing to the eye, Sugar makes for a fine Blu-ray presentation in most every area. The brighter outdoor baseball scenes look great; the brown dirt, green grass, blue sky, and various trees and shrubs all offer strong details and texture. The colors are the strong suit here; they always take on a natural tone and never appear too dim or overblown. Even some of the less-brightly-lit interior shots and darker dusk or nighttime scenes hold up well; the first time audiences are taken inside Sugar's Dominican house or, later, his Iowa home with the Higgins family, retain a solid color balance and fine detail resolution in lesser lighting conditions than those afforded to the daytime exteriors. The transfer enjoys a layer of grain that's never too heavy or too light, the result a fine cinematic look and feel to the picture that accentuates the overall quality of the presentation. Flesh tones remain a natural shade throughout, but blacks occasionally appear a bit too bright. Overall, however, Sugar hits for a very high average on Blu-ray.

Sugar Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sugar winds up on Blu-ray and delivers a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack that's offered only in Spanish and Portuguese but with an array of subtitle options (including English) but does offer a fair deal of English-language dialogue throughout. Though the track is almost exclusively front-heavy and none too interesting, it seems to capture the intended sonic experience well enough. The track does offer up a rather strong sense of atmosphere and space; background chatter in the locker rooms or cafeterias, or coaches blurting out instructions and hard-thrown balls popping leather mitts in some of the baseball scenes do well to place the listener in the midst of the action. Things liven up a bit during the baseball game sequences; listeners will enjoy the sense of being at a small-time, small-crowd Midwestern Minor League baseball game as the sound of fan banter, player chatter, and the public address announcer fill up the listening area nicely. A dance club scene in chapter eight offers the best opportunity for the track to stretch its legs, but while the beats and lyrics are delivered clearly and distinctly, the aural impact is minimal, and things aren't helped by a rather reserved low end. Sugar is a predominantly dialogue-driven film, and it's delivered clearly throughout. Still, the track's fine sense of atmosphere makes it a rather good listen even if there's just not much going on to excite the senses.

Sugar Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sugar tosses a few innings worth of supplements. Leading off is Making 'Sugar:' Run the Bases (480p, 14:33), a good interview piece that examines casting the parts, the film's themes and departure from sports movie norm, its authenticity, shooting locations, and more. Play Béisbol! The Dominican Dream (480p, 12:56) looks at the impact of the film on Dominican audiences and offers interview clips with several Major League stars, including Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa, Daniel Cabrera, Francisco Cordero, David Ortiz, and Robinson Cano. Casting 'Sugar:' Interview with Algenis Perez Soto (480p, 4:26) features the actor answering a series of questions while still auditioning for the role. Also included is a collection of five standard-definition deleted scenes, BD-Live functionality, and 1080p trailers for Sugar, Tyson, Rudo Y Cursi, Moon, Whatever Works, Soul Power, Ghostbusters, and A River Runs Through It.

Sugar Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those entering Sugar with the wrong expectations for the film are bound to be thrown off-kilter at best and wholly disappointed at worst by the experience. That doesn't make it any less of a great movie. Sugar is raw, unpredictable, and powerful. It's a reprieve from the admittedly great string of uplifting sports films that have brought audiences to their feet over the years in the wake of powerful storytelling with a feel-good message of perseverance in the face of adversity, age, or any number of maladies that stand in the way of one's dreams. Sugar doesn't sugarcoat its story; there's nothing here to suggest anything other than a hard, honest look at the brutality of life and the struggle to make it in a world that's bound and determined to place any number of obstacles in one's path. Poignant moviemaking at its best, Sugar is a must-see film for anyone -- baseball fan or otherwise -- thirsty for a genuine human drama. Sony's Blu-ray release of Sugar does the film justice. Boasting a strong 1080p transfer, a dull but otherwise accurate-to-the-source lossless soundtrack, and a few decent extras, Sugar earns a solid recommendation.