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Searching for Sugar Man was one of the best films I saw at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. It chronicles the life of enigmatic singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez. After recording two critically acclaimed albums that didn’t sell, he faded into obscurity, though his music resurfaced in an unexpected place. As I wrote in my review of Searching for Sugar Man, some obscure artists are big in Japan. Sixto Rodgriguez? He’s so obscure he was big in South Africa.
In our interview with the film’s director, Malik Bendjelloul, he mentioned that Rodriguez’s story was one of the best stories he’d ever heard. The resulting film is a great portrait of the artist as a Detroit original. The trailer gives a little too much away about the trajectory of Rodriguez’s life. If you want to go into the movie blind, avoid watching the above. Regardless, I recommend listening to Rodriguez’s albums Cold Fact and Coming from Reality.
Searching for Sugar Man comes out July 27th. I can’t wait to watch it again.
[Via The Film Stage]