Sugar 2008

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: To tell you what happens to him from here would be a tremendous disservice. We'll just say that, refreshingly, nothing about it is sickly sweet. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A rich and moving reminder of the way professional sports aspirations can shape someone's destiny in the real world. Read more

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: It's got an authenticity that most sports films lack. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: With the moving, absorbing drama Sugar, Boden and Fleck not only avoid the sophomore slump, they demolish it, delivering a film of rare intelligence, beauty and compassion. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is both sad and hopeful, but the film's sorrow and its optimism arise from its rarest and most thrilling quality, which is its deep and humane honesty. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The camera is on Sugar the whole time, but the faux-documentary approach keeps him out of reach in all the ways that really matter. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is a drama of shifting values and compromised ideals, arriving at a view of life that's wise, complicated, and tinged with melancholy. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A quietly surprising drama. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A sports movie that transcends its genre. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Think of it as a subtle arthouse antidote to the groaning galaxy of baseball movies, a film more concerned with character, mood, and capturing a highly specific cultural milieu than with big games that invariably come down to the very last inning. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: In its unhurried fashion, Sugar can take its place with the best baseball movies. Where most focus on the grand slam, this one's about the life that surrounds the game and everything that comes after. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: As the film plays out its melancholy story, we realize that what we are watching is far rarer than the usual sports flick. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Not only have director-writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck crafted a poignant immigrant tale, they've made a sports saga rife with rare truths. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: This is a film that finds certain purity in disillusionment and freedom in failure. Which may not be sweet, but it is tasty. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: This is a sports drama of total originality, as well as the most authentic inside view of the immigrant experience the movies have given us in quite a while. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's a beautifully made film about a young man's journey of self-discovery, about how Miguel "Sugar" Santos makes his way in the world and tries to figure out, as we all do, who he is meant to be. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Sugar, a baseball movie, an immigrant parable and a thoroughly entertaining drama that accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of putting a fresh face on the fractured American Dream. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: This is a tragic sports movie that shies away from every element of tragedy. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Sugar is an inside-the-park homer. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Scenes that would usually be mere setup ... become engaging in their own right. ... game and practice sequences have an easy authenticity from the start. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A thoughtful drama about guys who have a moment in the big time before returning home to an odd reflected glory. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Let down by a manipulative script recycled from dozens of sports and immigrant movies. At least it dispenses with a Hollywood ending. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: This Sugar doesn't blend the sweet with the bittersweet as deftly as it might have. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's film is a modest but masterful triumph. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Algenis Perez Soto plays the character so openly, so naturally, that an interesting thing happens: Baseball is only the backdrop, not the subject. This is a wonderful film. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Boden and Fleck are exceptional talents who refuse to sweeten Sugar for mass consumption. The result is raw and riveting. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A moving, surprising and provocative baseball flick that rises immediately to No. 1 with a bullet on my personal list. Read more

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle: Sugar is a gripping look at the immigrant experience, with small moments as important -- and visually arresting -- as any on the baseball diamond. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: The most remarkable thing Sugar does is give American viewers a sense of how our country must seem to a newly arrived immigrant, without caricaturing or condescending to either guest or host. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Put this one in the Win column. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A terrific film that's not just for sports fans. Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, it's as insightful as it is entertaining. Read more

Guy Dixon, Globe and Mail: Rich in texture and colour, music and aura. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The film's strength is reportorial, sensitively exploring a theme that has grown ever more prominent with the globalization of sport. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Sugar is a departure from movies of its kind in quietly observing that life is often a series of base hits rather than grand-slam homers. The film has few moments of high drama and the games played matter only in how they shape Soto's character. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: In 'Sugar', the pair skilfully dismantle the timeworn themes, characters and story patterns of the conventional sports movie and then reassemble them as a rich, socially astute realist drama. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Easily one of the year's best, Sugar is an intelligent and sublimely moving film that should not be missed. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Sympathetic, genial and exceedingly wholesome, it's a film that, once seen, will permanently and favorably influence the way viewers regard the characters' real-life counterparts. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have transformed some of the saggiest, most cliched genres with smarts, non-screechy politics, superb acting, and visual beauty. Read more