“Rodriguez: the greatest 70s US rock icon who never was.”
Searching for Sugar Man is one of the most fascinating and moving Music Films ever made. The Documentary has the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature written all over it. First time Director and Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul worked on the Documentary for 5 years with no money (NYTIMES). Bendjelloul did all his own Edits and Animations, which he again all learned by simply practising from home. Reminds me a lot of one of my favorite Isaac Asimov quotations: “Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” How did Bendjelloul come across such an amazing story? Well that is a whole new documentary because he went travelling through Africa and South America for more then 6 Months in search of a story. In Capetown he ran into a detective and two Music journalists that were looking for Sixto Rodríguez. Bendjelloul: “Everyone wanted to know where Rodriguez was because bootlegged copies of his album Cold Fast exploded during Apartheid Africa where the songs SUGAR MAN and I WONDER were the 70’s Anthems for a generation”. Rodriguez was the very first artist that had political content that was anti-establishment and that really got heard in Africa. By remote control, Rodriguez actually changed a society. But no one knew were the singer was and one of the many rumors of a grotesque death abounded him. One even suggested the singer set himself alight onstage one night, burning to death before the crowd. So the Search for Sugurman aka musician Sixto Rodríguez began. Rodríguez recorded two albums with Sussex label in the 70s in the United States. His album Cold Fact (SPOTIFY) got released in the 1970’s. And Coming from Reality (SPOTIFY) in 1971. But after mixed reviews and low album sales, he was dropped from the label, which later eventually later folded in 1975. Cold fact Producers Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey couldn’t believe it themselves. They where working at the time with Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and The Temptations and really felt they made a masterpiece: “similar to Bob Dylan but maybe even better” they said. Eventually the album managed to sell well in both South Africa and Australia without Rodriguez even knowing himself. Bendjelloul starts shooting and the rest is history folks! WOW!!, what an album and Motion Picture! :“It’s like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen combined with James Taylors voice”. A-DEFINITE-ONE-NOT-TO-MIS!! WATCH THE TRAILER HERE (UK) If you have seen the Documentary already I highly recommend CBS’s 60 Min here – SPOILER ALERT.
TOP 5 MUSIC FILMS 2012:
1.) Searching for Sugar Man – SPOILER ALERT WITH US TRAILER