The writing and directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) turn their attention to Major League Baseball’s farm system in the Dominican Republic, where promising young player Miguel “Sugar” Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) endures the indentured servitude and eventually shows big-league promise. But what, exactly, is that promise? The second half of the film takes an even darker view of American professional sports, suggesting, in the end, that pro athletes aren’t doing honest work. That’s a provocative statement – especially in the United States – but Sugar, while beautifully detailed, was too respectable to really rouse anyone.
