We Hate Hollywood

Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Starring Algenis Pérez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli, José Rijo, Ann Whitney, Richard Bull, Ellary Porterfield, Alina Vargas, Kelvin Leonardo Garcìa, Joendy Peña
Rated R for profanity and a brief sexual scene

Hidden Gem by guest author Eddie Chinn

Bottom of the ninth. Two outs. 3 balls, 2 strikes. It’s Game 6 of the World Series in the new Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees are leading Philadelphia 7-3. The ball is stroked to second base where Robinson Cano fires the ball into Mark Texiera’s glove. The New York Yankees win their 27th World Championship.

Virtually every man who loved baseball as a little boy fantasized about wearing the pinstripes and playing in the Series. They imagined themselves under the lights at Yankee Stadium with the thundering crowd in the background chanting their name.

This was also the dream of a young Dominican Republic pitching sensation named Miguel Santos (Algenis Perez Soto). He was one of several gifted players attending the Kansas City Knights’ baseball academy nestled near Santos’ village home. They all had grand visions of making it to the States and experiencing the riches of playing at Yankee Stadium and driving Cadillacs. His pride and ego accompany him like a player’s agent on draft day.

His nickname is Sugar. He says it represents his sweetness with the ladies while others say it’s his inability to turn down sweets. It also describes his devastating knuckle-curve ball which eventually becomes his ticket out of the comforts of the Dominican Republic and into the terrifying strangeness of the “Third World” country that is the United States of America.

Sugar is written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) and has the feel of a baseball documentary. Knowing that this is a story detailing the journey of a young athlete from an undeveloped country to the Promised Land, one would enter the theater expecting a formulaic, rags-to-riches baseball story culminating with the championship game.

And, that would be where you’re wrong.

I have read several reviews that make the point that this movie is not about baseball. While I tend to agree with that perspective, the sport’s role as a supporting actor is brilliant. There are the typical factors such as taking illegal drugs, attention from fans, and player brawls that keep the film honest, but getting a glimpse of how the sports is viewed outside the US is captivating.

In Miguel’s case, baseball initially makes his decision for him on what to do with his life. His gifts land him the opportunity he’s been waiting for as KC signs him to a minor league contract. He is sent to play for the Iowa Swing, the Knights’ A farm club. He struggles with the culture and the demands of professional baseball, and the common denominator is his hosting family, the Higgins. Their strict rules, faith, and their church-loving granddaughter bring confusion to Sugar in the midst of him pursuing his “calling.”

While recuperating from an injury after covering first base, Sugar begins to see a side of the game that isn’t all that glamorous. He watches his best friend and mentor, Jorge, get cut from the team due to his age and slow rehabilitation from a knee injury. Then, another D.R. phenom arrives on the scene and begins grabbing all the attention. He then begins to falter on the mound upon his return from his injury, and his dream begins to fade while feeling isolated and vulnerable.

Soon afterward, Sugar walks to the bus heading out on a road trip and remembers leaving something in the clubhouse. It is at this point that the movie takes a turn that you don’t see coming.

If you love baseball and/or human interest stories, then you will become fixated on this film. I also found it intriguing that, while this movie doesn’t follow the typical Hollywood blueprint, it pays respect to those baseball movies from years past. It’s a movie about an immature pitcher who gets caught up in the glamor, yet there’s no Crash Davis. He plays for a team called the Knights, but his manager does not wish he was a farmer. Life takes him to the corn fields of Iowa, but it certainly isn’t heaven.

As his Uncle Frank said early in Sugar’s quest, “Life gives you many opportunities, baseball only gives you one.”

For Miguel Santos, he’s fine with either as long as one takes him to New York.