Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s second picture is another low budget indie effort that is all at once a fantastic portrait of both the Dominican baseball path, the pressures of the minor leagues, and immigrant life in America.
Sugar is a member of the Kansas City baseball school that farms players into their minor league system with hope of finding the next big star. We get a brief look at his life and relationships in the Dominican before he is called up for spring training and is given a chance to make it into the minor leagues. Where he is comfortable and familiar back home Sugar and most of his Hispanic speaking transplants are instantly thrown into a life of poor communication and awkwardness that is an almost unimaginable burden to even imagine. Making it by on French toast at the local diner Sugar is called up to the Single A team in Iowa leaving behind all his friends that came to the States with him and becoming even more of an outsider in as foreign of a place as he has ever been. Paired up with a host family and one of two rookies to make it to Single A out of spring training Sugar is not only given a chance to prove his worth at a high level of play but there are a lot of people that believe in the talent of his pitching arm. [Read more...]