Algenis Perez Soto in Sugar
There were a couple of surprises among the American Film Institute's feature-film choices for its AFI Awards 2009: Todd Phillips' low-brow box-office smash The Hangover and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's little-seen Sugar.
The story of Dominican baseball player (Algenis Perez Soto) who dreams of one day joining the major leagues, Sugar was a particularly interesting pick as thus far it hasn't been getting all that much attention from US critics' groups. The sports drama got a Spirit Award nomination for best screenplay (that was a year ago) and a best ensemble Gotham Award nod a few weeks ago. That's basically it.
Most of the other films included in the AFI's top ten list were low-budget, independently made productions (though probably not nearly as low-budget as Sugar): Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, Oren Moverman's The Messenger, Lee Daniels' Precious, Tom Ford's A Single Man, and Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man.
Only Pete Docter's animated blockbuster Up and Jason Reitman's George Clooney vehicle Up in the Air could be considered high-profile films.
Topics range from corporate downsizing (Up in the Air) and death (A Single Man) to family abuse (Precious) and the Iraq War (The Hurt Locker).
Among the titles left out of the AFI list are James Cameron's Avatar, Rob Marshall's Nine, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare at Goats, Clint Eastwood's Invictus, and Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!.
The selected films were chosen by a 13-person jury consisting of "scholars, film artists, critics and AFI trustees."
Have to check out sugar. Never even heard of trhe ilm.