Searching for Sugar Man
Rating = B+
As a
documentary, this film has some problems. It spends to much time on the
scenery of Cape Town (South Africa) and on the singer/songwriter Rodriguez trudging through the
snow of Detroit, perhaps to
fill the necessary minutes for a feature length film. It also doesn't make clear the
details of Rodriguez's family situation (three daughters are in the film and nothing is said about
a wife or mother of a daughter). It also skips over an (many years prior to South Africa)
international tour to Australia, perhaps legitimately to focus the story of Rodriguez's
popularity and heroic status in South Africa.
Nonetheless, the film is quite fascinating and wonderful: how one unknown-in-America
singer/songwriter could have had such big impact in South Africa, and the amazingly calm
and ascetic life Rodriguez has led.
The music, all by Rodriguez, is also quite
wonderful.
[2012-08-30, Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, MA]