Sugar

Synopsis: By 2008, more than 25 percent of major league baseball players were born in Latin America. At 19, Miguel "Sugar" Santos, a serious kid from the Dominican Republic, signs with Kansas City. He flies to Phoenix for tryouts and is sent to the Class A team "The Swing" in the fictional town of Bridgetown, Iowa, where he lives with a farm family. Thus begins his odyssey: leaving his mom and girlfriend; living in an alien culture; learning English; overcoming jitters; working hard; achieving early success; navigating friendships, occasional racism, and a woman's mixed signals; dealing with an injury; trying performance-enhancing drugs; and, searching for his place in the world. Will he make it to the Majors; will he play in New York?
Genre: Drama, Sport
Director(s): Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Production: Sony Classics
  2 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.2
Metacritic:
82
Rotten Tomatoes:
92%
R
Year:
2008
114 min
$1,037,595
Website
315 Views


Strike.

One out.

-Strike three.

-No way.

-I got it.

-I got it.

Get your heads in the game!

You're gonna let him kill the kid?

Check out Sugar.

He put on 20 pounds,

and now he's going for 20 more.

All muscle, dude.

Rock solid.

Right... solid bones!

Eat slowly, kid.

It's not going anywhere!

If you hustled as hard as him,

you'd be hungry too.

-I got it. I got it.

-I got it.

-Fly ball.

-Fly ball.

-Line drive.

-Line drive.

-Ground ball.

-Ground ball.

-Ground ball.

-Ground ball.

-Home run.

-Home run.

-Home run.

-Home run.

Home run.

What about this kid?

Salvador Torres?

He's been with us for about a week.

Good potential. Raw talent.

We gonna sign him?

Soon, I hope. I'm talking to his agent.

They got two other offers.

From two other teams for about a hundred.

He's good.

What about him?

Miguel Santos?

Great arm.

We signed him two year ago for 15.

Good deal. He throw any junk?

Sugar, show him your curve.

Not bad. Mind if I try something?

Please, go ahead.

Do you mind? May l?

Give him the ball.

It's a spike curve.

Gives you more rotation, more movement.

You try.

This way.

Yeah. Just like that. Come on, let's go.

Throw it!

It's okay, son. These things take time.

You'll figure it out.

He'll be all right.

-Your performance...

-Your performance...

-ln the mound...

-ln the mound...

-ls not...

-ls not...

-As good...

-As good...

-As last year.

-As last year.

-What is the problem?

-What is the problem?

-What is the problem?

-What is the problem?

-I don't know.

-I don't know.

-I don't know.

-I don't know.

-Maybe my mechanic.

-Maybe my mechanic.

-Maybe my mechanic.

-Maybe my mechanic.

-I want to give you a chance.

-I want to give you a chance.

-I want to give you a chance.

-I want to give you a chance.

-It's up to you.

-It's up to you.

-It's up to you.

-It's up to you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-I'll do my best.

-I'll do my best.

-I'll do my best.

-I'll do my best.

-I'll do my best.

-I'll do my best.

-Have a good weekend.

-You too.

Sugar! Give me a ball!

Hey, what's up?

-I got one!

-I got one!

-Hi, Sis.

-Hello.

-Any news about the States?

-ls that all you want to hear about?

Hi, Grandma.

Looking beautiful today.

What's up? How's the TV?

Erica won't let me watch baseball.

Not during American Idol.

Hello, Miguel. Do you have

any good news for your mother?

Yes...

You're going to the States?

Not yet, Mom.

But I learned

how to throw a spike curve.

A spike curve...

What's that?

I'm still working out the mechanics!

When are you going to finish this?

Soon. It's just hard

to find the time.

It's pretty.

I'm trying to match the chairs

my dad made, but I can't get it right.

I think it's perfect.

When I'm done,

I'll make you one just like it.

And the rest of the house?

When will it be done?

A month, maybe two...

Do you know we just did it

where my mom's kitchen is gonna be?

Don't tell me that!

Why not? Next time we can do it

in Grandma's bedroom.

Or we could do it on the roof?

I hope you make it to the States.

You hope?

Baby, there's nobody better than me.

Okay, then...

how about...

I know you'll make it.

Now we're talking.

And the first thing

I'm going to do when I get there...

I'm going to buy a Cadillac.

And I'll drive it through

the ocean and bring you back with me.

You can't drive a Cadillac on water.

Sure you can.

In the U.S. they build all kinds of cars.

Ones that drive on water.

You're crazy.

I can take you to New York.

There's snow there

in Yankee Stadium.

Want to see me play

in Yankee Stadium?

It doesn't snow during

the baseball season, silly.

So we'll go for Christmas.

Promise?

Sure. Next Christmas...

we'll cross the sea

in my Cadillac car-boat. Done.

You really are crazy.

She was hot.

But I liked my hair too much.

I liked it too, Javi.

If you liked your hair

so much, why did you cut it?

I wanted a different look.

Or a different girl.

Hey, stop playing...

This arm is worth a million dollars.

He's right!

That arm's worth money.

May God bless the golden arm!

You call that flabby

rubber band an arm?

Oh, Miguel!

Dude, this arm throws a 95.

What does yours throw?

Well, I threw 98

in Double-A in Portland.

-98?

-That's right.

Then why are you at the streetlights...

selling cell phone chargers?

And the one you sold me

doesn't even work.

Many of you are thinking

about your families.

Your girlfriends.

Your siblings.

Your grandparents.

I know a lot of you

are feeling the pressure.

But I'm going to tell you

something very important.

Forget about it all.

The only thing you've got

to think about is yourselves.

Put all your energy into your game...

into your development

as a ballplayer.

Forget about everything else.

And just play.

You want to succeed?

You've got to be like a racehorse,

focused on your final goal.

Because everything...

absolutely everything

depends on you.

Berroa. When you finish,

go to Alvarez's office.

Hey, Sugar,

they made me an offer.

Congratulations.

What did they offer you?

A hundred fifteen.

But my agent takes like forty of it.

How much did you sign for?

Oh, you know.

About the same.

Did you get any other offers?

The Yankees and Seattle,

but not as much.

Well, just don't get cocky.

Nobody likes a d*ckhead on the team.

Welcome to the team.

So, why do they call you Sugar?

Well, I'm sweet with the ladies.

But mostly I've got

the sweetest knuckle curve there is.

Bullshit! You just learned

that the other day.

They call him Sugar because

he eats so much dessert!

He's just jealous.

Dude, we got you

a little going away present.

You should go to the Dodgers.

I heard they're looking

for first basemen.

To hell with that sh*t.

The coaches are

even tougher over there.

No more curfews.

No more trainers telling me

what to do and how to do it.

I feel good like this, man.

Forget about it.

"No hats inside the building, son!"

"Cut your meat with the knife,

but eat it with the fork!"

"Never put the meat

in your mouth with the knife!"

"Or you'll chop off your tongue!"

"Ten o'clock! Lights out!"

Line drive.

-Line drive.

-Line drive.

Fly ball.

-Fly ball.

-Fly ball.

Home run.

-Home run.

-Home run.

I got it. I got it.

-I got it. I got it.

-I got it. I got it.

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out to the crowd

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack

I don't care if I never get back

Let me root, root, root for the home team

If they don't win it's a shame

For it's one, two...

Have fun last night?

Feel better now?

Let's go.

Okay, okay.

Here we go, here we go!

Okay, Sugar, let's do this!

Strike one.

Strike two.

Three. Strike three.

Strike three.

Hey, wipe that smile off your face.

Salvador, warm up.

You're pitching the next inning.

Let's go.

Just when I was

starting to like you.

You go and do something stupid.

What have you got to say

for yourselves?

Alfonso was with us too.

Don't give me excuses.

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Anna Boden

Anna Boden is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known as the co-writer of the 2006 film Half Nelson. She is known for her collaborations with fellow filmmaker Ryan Fleck. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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