Review of Sugar (2008) by Brian W — 19 Apr 2009

Consider this my first review of the year. Sure I briefly reviewed Friday the 13th (and I actually like it a little...for what it is), but this is the film that starts the reviewing season for me. And it only took 3 and 1/2 months.

If you are new to my reviews, I hope that you will read them often. I am an actor, (and soon to be a screenwriter and director) and mostly try to see things in that perspective.

Now...on to the review.

I had incredibly high expectations for this film. Ryan Fleck (this time a co-director with Anna Boden) was the writer and director of Half Nelson. That was a film I loved unbelievably. At the time, I didn't know that Fleck had written the film as well as directed it. I remember thinking that under a different director, the film could've been a complete disaster. But now, after watching SUGAR, I realized that Fleck takes an idea...one that could easily seem contrived and manipulative and writes a screenplay...which on its own...or in someone else's hands could continue in that vein. But his exposition, this time with Boden...is unbelievable. Each time we leave a setting...first the Dominican Republic...then Spring training...and so on...it is as if the obvious is unraveled till we see the bare bones.

There are moments in the film, mostly unspoken, that speak more than words could. In a review like this it's almost impossible to discuss...at least more than that, because I want first time seers to experience it the way I did.

Much has been written about how the film takes a track that isn't expected. Well, knowing that, I knew what was going to happen, but that still didn't prepare me for Sugar's development as a character.

The film makes you think a great deal about talent and the obstacles that accompany that talent. (Again...can't really say more than that. Once you see the film, you will understand a little more.).

Our leading man, Algenis Perez Soto, is a complete surprise, and (here is my one SPOILER) in the end he has a moment that solves any problem we might have had with the script or the "surprise" direction the story takes. And in that moment (which I also believe to be an homage to Gosling's performance in NELSON) the film becomes a masterpiece.