Once in a while the liquid dynamics of independent film distribution cause problems for our deadlines. Such was the case three weeks ago when a review of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's excellent baseball drama Sugar appeared in Weekend. The problem was, the Tampa Bay date was delayed after deadline, causing confusion among readers who contacted me looking for its location.

Now comes word that Sugar is opening Friday, exclusively at AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa. It's worth the trip, if you can make it. I promised the readers who called/messaged that I'd include it in the top 5 list in Weekend when it's scheduled, to let them know. But I also want to post the review here, since we won't run it again in print. Enjoy.

Like most sports movies, Sugar ends with a game. Not the typical big game with everything on the line and slo-mo heroics. We don’t even know the score. I get the feeling that such a baseball game, played by Latin American immigrants on a field of broken professional dreams, inspired Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to create Sugar, a character study that’s fiction yet feels as genuine -- sometimes as dry -- as a documentary.

Much of that realness is due to Algenis Perez Soto’s impressively natural acting debut as Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a hot pitching prospect from the Dominican Republic. Soto obviously has baseball skills, along with an impassive face revealing more than it seems. He’s an alluring actor to watch for those quiet revelations. Soto effortlessly encourages our hopes for a happy ending.

Sugar’s quest for major league stardom is presented in three acts: hailed as a hometown hero on the cusp of breaking the poverty cycle, confused by American culture when he joins a minor league team, and rocked by a steady decline of faith in his abilities and the system exploiting them.

That climactic game features players with the same experiences, bonded by baseball and the better life in the United States that it gave them. Boden and Fleck, who created 2006’s indie hit Half Nelson, find an equally intense love of the game in Iowa, where Sugar plays for a minor league team. Struggling with the language and customs, he receives sincere support from Midwesterners taking in ballplayers as boarders during the season.

Several possibly cliched situations arise; a trace of racism, a cross-cultural flirtation, a costly injury. Boden and Fleck dodge the easy choices, making Sugar a rare movie giving few clues about where it’s going. The movie needs some trimming, and it wouldn’t hurt for something conventional to happen along its ambling way. Regardless, this is one of 2009’s most interesting and original films so far. A-