Chicago – There was no film in 2012 that moved me more deeply or left me feeling more exhilarated than Stephen Cone’s achingly personal masterpiece, “The Wise Kids.” It’s the sort of film that I’ve been hoping to see get made for quite some time. Whereas so many films about people of faith rely on condescending stereotypes to push a contrived agenda, Cone’s picture is humanistic in every sense of the word.
From the titular trio down to the smallest speaking role, every single character in “The Wise Kids” is thrillingly alive. It’s clear that Cone has a deep understanding of the Southern Baptist community portrayed in his film. There are no easy answers for the questions this movie provokes, nor are there any heavy-handed speeches designed to spoon-feed glib morals. Cone wants to start a dialogue on vital issues rather than pretend to be the final word.
From the titular trio down to the smallest speaking role, every single character in “The Wise Kids” is thrillingly alive. It’s clear that Cone has a deep understanding of the Southern Baptist community portrayed in his film. There are no easy answers for the questions this movie provokes, nor are there any heavy-handed speeches designed to spoon-feed glib morals. Cone wants to start a dialogue on vital issues rather than pretend to be the final word.
- 1/16/2013
- by [email protected] (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
If this year's Gotham Awards winner is any indication, A Serious Man might be in serious trouble with its Oscar chances as Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker appears to be the "preferred" independent film of the year. - If this year's Gotham Awards winner is any indication, A Serious Man might be in serious trouble with its Oscar chances as Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker appears to be the "preferred" independent film of the year. The Coen Bros. film lost out in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble categories, but I'm really curious in seeing how this all plays out in the next couple of weeks with the New York based film critics' year end kudos. The biggest surprise of the the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards was the Breakthrough Actor award going to Catalina Saavedra's performance in The Maid over Ben Foster...
- 12/13/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. - Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor) and Robert Siegel Big Fan (Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Actor) managed to pick up three mentions each for the 19th Annual Gotham Independent Film Award nominations, but the big winner on November 30th might actually be The Coen Bros. A Serious Man who have noms in the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Perf. categories. Sebastian Silva's (who we just recently interviewed) picked up pair...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
"The Hurt Locker's" march to the Oscars has begun! The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is nominated for best feature, breakthrough actor, and best ensemble performance at the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards.
Robert Siegel's "Big Fan" also topped the Gotham nominations with best features, breakthrough actor, and breakthrough director noms.
"The Hurt Locker" is one of my favorite films this year (Click Watch My Top 10 Best Movies of Summer 2009!) so I'm rooting for this brilliant flick!
Bigelow, Natalie Portman, and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will each be presented with a career tribute.
The ceremony will be held Nov. 30 at Cipriani Wall Street.
And the nominees for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards are:
Best Feature
"Amreeka"
Cherien Dabis, director; Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin, producers (National Geographic Entertainment)
"Big Fan"
Robert Siegel, director; Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin, producers (First Independent Pictures)
"The Hurt Locker"
Kathryn Bigelow,...
Robert Siegel's "Big Fan" also topped the Gotham nominations with best features, breakthrough actor, and breakthrough director noms.
"The Hurt Locker" is one of my favorite films this year (Click Watch My Top 10 Best Movies of Summer 2009!) so I'm rooting for this brilliant flick!
Bigelow, Natalie Portman, and Stanley Tucci, and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will each be presented with a career tribute.
The ceremony will be held Nov. 30 at Cipriani Wall Street.
And the nominees for the 19th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards are:
Best Feature
"Amreeka"
Cherien Dabis, director; Christina Piovesan, Paul Barkin, producers (National Geographic Entertainment)
"Big Fan"
Robert Siegel, director; Jean Kouremetis, Elan Bogarin, producers (First Independent Pictures)
"The Hurt Locker"
Kathryn Bigelow,...
- 10/20/2009
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Release Date: April 3
Directors: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Writers: Anna Bodden and Ryan Fleck
Cinematographer: Andrij Parekh
Starring: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Ann Whitney
Studio Information: Sony Pictures Classics, 120 mins.
Sugar, the second film by the young writer-director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, follows a promising baseball pitcher named Miguel—nicknamed Sugar—from his home in the Dominican Republic through a series of minor league teams in the U.S. This isn’t The Natural, but rather a naturalistic view of the underside of professional baseball, where young men are chasing the American dream in its most iconic form, facing culture shock and loneliness in the process. I don’t remember seeing this aspect of the game on the big screen before, and the peek behind the curtain is fascinating, but Sugar is, more than anything else, a character study of a particular young man,...
Directors: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Writers: Anna Bodden and Ryan Fleck
Cinematographer: Andrij Parekh
Starring: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Ann Whitney
Studio Information: Sony Pictures Classics, 120 mins.
Sugar, the second film by the young writer-director duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, follows a promising baseball pitcher named Miguel—nicknamed Sugar—from his home in the Dominican Republic through a series of minor league teams in the U.S. This isn’t The Natural, but rather a naturalistic view of the underside of professional baseball, where young men are chasing the American dream in its most iconic form, facing culture shock and loneliness in the process. I don’t remember seeing this aspect of the game on the big screen before, and the peek behind the curtain is fascinating, but Sugar is, more than anything else, a character study of a particular young man,...
- 4/3/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Sugarcult
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- The immigrant experience has been seen many times on film before but rarely with the authenticity, wit and intelligence of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar".
The story of an aspiring young baseball player in the Dominican Republic, the film is more than a baseball story, but it will be a real delight for fans of the game. HBO should be able to land a smart indie distributor, as it did for the similarly themed "Maria Full of Grace", that can tap the film's huge appeal to the Latino market.
Several of the biggest stars in baseball -- Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz -- have come from the tiny Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, where every major league team operates a baseball academy for discovering promising prospects. But the ones who make it to the big leagues, or even have a successful minor league career in the States, is a very small percentage. "Sugar" is the story of a talented pitcher who doesn't make it all the way but learns some important life lessons along the way.
Boden and Fleck, who brought a similar sense of reality to their debut film "Half Nelson", recruited mostly ballplayers who could act, not the other way around. For their hero, Miguel "Sugar" Soto, they discovered Algenis Perez Soto on a baseball diamond in the Dominican Republic. With his heavy-lidded, almost brooding presence, he is one of those amateurs whose naturalness allows him to cut to the heart of his character.
Playing baseball is the ticket out of poverty for many boys in the Dominican, and Sugar is no exception. Trained from an early age, and with the hopes of his family riding on almost every pitch, he bears the weight of enormous expectations. His American dream is buying a Cadillac he can drive on the water.
He does well at the academy and is invited to spring training in Arizona, where the culture shock really sets in. Language is the big barrier, sometimes humorous, as when Sugar orders the same food every day (French toast), and sometimes painful, when he can't express himself.
He gives an impressive performance at spring training, and the next stop is a minor league team in Bridgewater, Iowa. No place could be further from the street life and poverty of the Dominican, and the adjustment is hard, even with the help of an elderly couple (Ann Whitney and Richard Bull) who take him in. While the filmmakers don't whitewash Sugar and his teammates, they clearly made a choice to downplay any sexual shenanigans that might go on among young athletes with raging hormones in a foreign country.
Sugar pitches effectively at first, but with the departure of Jorge (Rayniel Rufino), his best friend on the team, a nagging injury and rejection by a pretty white girl (Ellary Porterfield) he has a crush on, he falls into a black hole. Unable to take the loneliness and isolation anymore, he hops on a bus to New York to try to find himself.
New York can be a hard place, too, but eventually he prevails on the kindness of strangers, especially a good-hearted carpenter (Jaime Tirelli), and he eventually meets up with Jorge and starts to create a new life for himself. When he starts playing baseball with a bunch of Latino guys, all of whom have been through the same flirtation with professional ball, the game becomes fun again.
The filmmakers, aided by cinematographer Andrij Parekh and composer Michael Brook, do a fine job capturing the different rhythms of Sugar's experience: the bright colors and sounds of the Dominican, the subdued palette of Iowa and the bustling life of New York. Acting as her own editor, Boden uses crisp cutting and a keen eye to tell the story visually. Everything from the performances to the production design contributes to capturing what life must really be like for these kids.
As much as you root for Sugar to succeed, Boden and Fleck resist the temptation to give the film a Hollywood ending. What happens is more real, and Sugar gains something more important -- he grows up.
SUGAR
HBO Films
A Journeyman Pictures/Hunting Lane Films production in association with Gowanus Projections
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Producers: Paul Mezey, Jamie Patricof, Jeremy Kipp Walker
Executive producer: Anna Boden
Director of cinematography: Andrij Parekh
Production designer: Elizabeth Mickle
Music: Michael Brook
Costume designer: Erin Benach
Editor: Anna Boden
Cast:
Miguel "Sugar" Santos: Algenis Perez Soto
Jorge Ramirez: Rayniel Rufino
Brad Johnson: Andre Holland
Stu Sutton: Michael Gaston
Osvaldo: Jaime Tirelli
Helen Higgins: Ann Whitney
Earl Higgins: Richard Bull
Anne Higgins: Ellary Porterfield
Reyna: Alina Vargas
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating...
PARK CITY -- The immigrant experience has been seen many times on film before but rarely with the authenticity, wit and intelligence of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar".
The story of an aspiring young baseball player in the Dominican Republic, the film is more than a baseball story, but it will be a real delight for fans of the game. HBO should be able to land a smart indie distributor, as it did for the similarly themed "Maria Full of Grace", that can tap the film's huge appeal to the Latino market.
Several of the biggest stars in baseball -- Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz -- have come from the tiny Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic, where every major league team operates a baseball academy for discovering promising prospects. But the ones who make it to the big leagues, or even have a successful minor league career in the States, is a very small percentage. "Sugar" is the story of a talented pitcher who doesn't make it all the way but learns some important life lessons along the way.
Boden and Fleck, who brought a similar sense of reality to their debut film "Half Nelson", recruited mostly ballplayers who could act, not the other way around. For their hero, Miguel "Sugar" Soto, they discovered Algenis Perez Soto on a baseball diamond in the Dominican Republic. With his heavy-lidded, almost brooding presence, he is one of those amateurs whose naturalness allows him to cut to the heart of his character.
Playing baseball is the ticket out of poverty for many boys in the Dominican, and Sugar is no exception. Trained from an early age, and with the hopes of his family riding on almost every pitch, he bears the weight of enormous expectations. His American dream is buying a Cadillac he can drive on the water.
He does well at the academy and is invited to spring training in Arizona, where the culture shock really sets in. Language is the big barrier, sometimes humorous, as when Sugar orders the same food every day (French toast), and sometimes painful, when he can't express himself.
He gives an impressive performance at spring training, and the next stop is a minor league team in Bridgewater, Iowa. No place could be further from the street life and poverty of the Dominican, and the adjustment is hard, even with the help of an elderly couple (Ann Whitney and Richard Bull) who take him in. While the filmmakers don't whitewash Sugar and his teammates, they clearly made a choice to downplay any sexual shenanigans that might go on among young athletes with raging hormones in a foreign country.
Sugar pitches effectively at first, but with the departure of Jorge (Rayniel Rufino), his best friend on the team, a nagging injury and rejection by a pretty white girl (Ellary Porterfield) he has a crush on, he falls into a black hole. Unable to take the loneliness and isolation anymore, he hops on a bus to New York to try to find himself.
New York can be a hard place, too, but eventually he prevails on the kindness of strangers, especially a good-hearted carpenter (Jaime Tirelli), and he eventually meets up with Jorge and starts to create a new life for himself. When he starts playing baseball with a bunch of Latino guys, all of whom have been through the same flirtation with professional ball, the game becomes fun again.
The filmmakers, aided by cinematographer Andrij Parekh and composer Michael Brook, do a fine job capturing the different rhythms of Sugar's experience: the bright colors and sounds of the Dominican, the subdued palette of Iowa and the bustling life of New York. Acting as her own editor, Boden uses crisp cutting and a keen eye to tell the story visually. Everything from the performances to the production design contributes to capturing what life must really be like for these kids.
As much as you root for Sugar to succeed, Boden and Fleck resist the temptation to give the film a Hollywood ending. What happens is more real, and Sugar gains something more important -- he grows up.
SUGAR
HBO Films
A Journeyman Pictures/Hunting Lane Films production in association with Gowanus Projections
Credits:
Directors-screenwriters: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Producers: Paul Mezey, Jamie Patricof, Jeremy Kipp Walker
Executive producer: Anna Boden
Director of cinematography: Andrij Parekh
Production designer: Elizabeth Mickle
Music: Michael Brook
Costume designer: Erin Benach
Editor: Anna Boden
Cast:
Miguel "Sugar" Santos: Algenis Perez Soto
Jorge Ramirez: Rayniel Rufino
Brad Johnson: Andre Holland
Stu Sutton: Michael Gaston
Osvaldo: Jaime Tirelli
Helen Higgins: Ann Whitney
Earl Higgins: Richard Bull
Anne Higgins: Ellary Porterfield
Reyna: Alina Vargas
Running time -- 117 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 1/25/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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