Directed and written by Sunu Gonera, this is the story of Joshua (Charles Mnene) who dreams of a better life and tries to get there through BMX racing until his knee is destroyed. For some time, he lives in a shelter run by Mambo (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) before learning that it's all a very Oliver Twist situation. He also falls for Olivia (Simona Brown), a dancer from a world of wealth that he has never known.

Made in Cape Town, South Africa, Riding With Sugar looks beautiful and has a story with plenty of heart, too. The idea that even a fellow refugee and a man who was once a professor in their home country of Zimbabwe could use Joshua makes this quite emotional. I really loved seeing a part of the world that is not well-represented in film and the use of color in this brings even more drama and power to an already strongly written and realized movie. It seems like it's going to just be a crime movie from the way that it looks from the poster and description, but this film is about more than that.

I finally got around to watching Riding with sugar and boy was it a disappointment. I was really rooting for this movies from the first time I saw the trailer, but... it just didn't pick up. I thought it would get better after Joshua met with Simona Brown but that b-story didn't actually lead anywhere. Plot is good in my opinion it had a lot of great bits in it, but the directing and creative choice let the whole movie down. It felt like a smoothie that wasn't finely blend (excuse the metaphor) with lots of great opportunities to make a good movies but between the weird cuts in between scenes and some minor story plots being rammed into the main story. If it had a more slow-burn approach it would have been better. I mean I already figured out the guy was dealing drugs from the moments he mentioned books. Also the violent flash backs were great. If that was a movie I would have loved to see it . Still a great watch.