SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Directed by Malik Bendjelloul
Before commencing with this review, Im going to strongly recommend that you dont read any further. Instead, just go and see Malik Bendjellouls profile of 70s folk musician Rodriguez. Trust me the less you know going in, the more youll be swept up in the unlikely twists and turns that this enthralling documentary takes.
For those who insist on reading on....
Refreshingly, Bendjelloul steers clear of the rise-and-fall trajectory favoured by many music docs. After all, your subject cant fall if he never rose in the first place. Such was the case with Rodriguez, who was discovered playing in a dockyards bar in his native Detroit. (Its a city that teaches you not to dream big, someone tellingly comments.) Heralded as the next Bob Dylan, he released two albums 1970s Cold Fact and 1971s Coming from Reality that sold only a handful of copies. Precisely why they failed to connect with American audiences still vexes the records producers and promoters.
However, some years after their release, both gained a rabid following in apartheid South Africa. In documenting this phenomenon, Bendjelloul not only reminds us that songs possessed the capacity to go viral well before YouTube but also illustrates how strongly simple yet eloquent messages about freedom can resonate with a subjugated populace.
And in retracing fans intrepid efforts to learn what exactly happened to the enigmatic songwriter, Bendjelloul similarly reacquaints us with a time when urban legends couldnt be dispelled with a quick Google search. But perhaps most importantly, Sugar Man inspires in viewers the heartening belief that every underdog just might have his day.
