A Movie You Should See, Now: Sugar

I know. This pic is probably the perfect image to DETER you from seeing this sparkling, under appreciated gem of a movie. Fireworks, baseball...blah. But this movie will have you rooting for Sugar, the eponymous main character after his very first pitch.

Sugar is from the Dominican Republic, where baseball is the only, I mean, ONLY ticket out of poverty and routine of a life just scraping by. Sugar is a gifted baseball player, but so are his other teammates on the training team he's been drafted for. Eventually, Sugar's skills help him get a spot on a AAA team in the States. Apparently, AAA means one step below the major leagues, a resource for coaches and scouts to find the "next big thing" in baseball.

This is where the movie takes an unexpected turn. We follow Sugar through his homesickness, the language barrier, the pressure to be perfect, and the yearning for a different life. It was such a poignant portrait of being transplanted to a different country and the struggles it entails. It's an immigrant's story where the individual may be welcomed to the United States, but only if their performance remains stellar.

This is a unique portrait of belonging and finding one's way. Watch this, it's not about baseball.