Review of Sugar (2010) by Dodd A — 13 Sep 2009
A thoughtful, poignant film about a young man who follows his dreams to America to play baseball. As much as this viewer enjoyed this film and the performance of the young man (Algenis Perez Soto) who plays the title character, somehow the film felt incomplete.
A message at the beginning of the film says that it has been edited for content from its original format. Makes one wonder just how much has been cut and why. The culture clash between Sugar and his host family was only lightly touched on.
The reasons for Sugar's meltdown are only hinted at. The relationships with his teammates are superficially treated at best. The brief encounter with performance enhancing drugs seemed like an unnecessary distraction from the main story.
In spite of these flaws, the film is refreshing in that it showed what happens to those that are ground down and cast aside by the sports machine that is always in search of the next superstar. The supporting cast was superb; the scenery and cinematography enhanced the story.
A very good film that could have been excellent, but felt short of expectations.
This review of Sugar (2010) was written by Dodd A on 13 Sep 2009.
Sugar has generally received positive reviews.
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