We're Watching: The Cast of Sugar

As members of the Diaspora, we don't always get a chance to consume Caribbean film as they're released. The b/dscvrd team is catching up on what we've missed, watching Caribbean film on Studio Anansi TV. In our "We're Watching" series, we celebrate great film performances by Caribbean actors, starting with Sugar.

Written by Sharon Leach, Sugar follows a young woman juggling home life and her job at a resort as she tries to save money for school. The titular character finds herself at odds with her mother who believes all Sugar's earnings should go to supporting the family, not her education. Sugar is faced with a moral dilemma when an opportunity presents itself to recoup her lost money in a less than favourable way.

The 2016 film is directed by St. Lucian director/producer Michelle Serieux and features a strong cast of Jamaican actors.

Sugar is portrayed by actor Shantol Jackson (Sprinter) with supporting roles by Karen Harriot (Ring Games), Shanique Brown (This City of Mine), Carol Lawes (Yardie), Maylynne Lowe (Royal Palm Estate), Sharee McDonald-Russell (Royal Palm Estate), Jean-Paul Menou (Locked Up Abroad), and Shak-Quera South (Sprinter).

In short films, moments are more precious because they carry more weight to the overall experience of the final product. The decisions the writer, director, and actors make are often more intentional than in a feature, and we see that at play in Sugar.

Movement

Shantol Jackson is a great physical actor, which works for the long takes we see in each scene of the film. Her blocking (movement) is in sync with the camera's, a seamlessly artful achievement by director Michelle Serieux and cinematographer Gareth Cobran.

The theatre background of this cast shows in how skillfully and naturally they move within their scenes and in relation to Shantol, who is present in every scene, even when off camera. The way movement is used to tell the story in Sugar relies on an intimate relationship with the story and characters.

Character

In a film with minimal featured extras, everyone we see is significant to the lead's story. Karen Harriot delivers Adele's entitlement, outrage, and warped parental philosophies with an intensity that tricks the audience into simultaneously feeling disdain and empathy for her character. The exchange Adele and Sugar have is shot against the backdrop that paints a picture of her place in society, with costume design that suggests she may be a less sympathetic player than her words would have us believe. Is she up that early because she's coming from a session?

Harriot's performance precedes the introduction of Sugar's supervisor Mrs. Lewars, whose temperament and maternal instinct is a juxtaposition to Adele, but her own story is another warning post for Sugar. Lewars is played by veteran actor Carol Lawes.

Within the first two minutes of the film, we're committed to Sugar's story. Jackson mostly has the screen for herself in her first scene and Sugar's motivations are clear. The character's optimism and hope is always lurking below the surface as life's hurdles knock her down. Jackson uses the silent moments to pull us into Sugar's world.

It's a world that is sometimes hidden from the masses, take a peek: watch Sugar on Studio Anansi TV