If this review has reached you too late and your local cinema is no longer showing Searching For Sugar Man (SFSM) ,\u00a0make a note of it’s title and keep an eye out for the network premiere, I’m sure BBC4 will be on the case in no time…<\/p>\n
The documentary tells the story of Rodriguez, a late 60s\/early 70s singer-songwriter who, like so many, recorded some spellbinding music but never managed to shift the necessary units to reward the attention he deserved. Told through the eyes of a South African super-fan, SFSM is the heart-warming tale of music’s transatlantic journey and the power of a curious mind that followed.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was first discovered in a smokey Detroit bar by a well connected Motown producer and within weeks the shy troubadours first album Cold Fact was surrounded by critical acclaim and genuine industry buzz. (N.B. This is a great album for fans of the singer\/songwriter genre – equal parts Dion, Donovan and of course Dylan).<\/p>\n
The album didn’t sell, at all. His second and final album also bombed, however Cold Fact found it’s way to South Africa, where it instantly became the must-have LP and a soundtrack the troubled protests that rallied against Apartheid. Over the next 20 years the album took on a life of it’s own, selling in huge numbers in SA making Rodriguez an instant folk-hero and “more popular than Elvis”<\/p>\n
By 1973, word had spread that Rodriguez had committed suicide by setting himself on fire whilst on stage. It’s not as bleak as it sounds, this is a life affirming story that any music fan needs to see. Like 2008’s Anvil before it, this story stands on it’s own merits as a great film, pulling the audience in from the opening credits whether you dig the soundtrack or not.<\/p>\n
In a world where our most popular singers are fame-hungry but talent-lite SFSM goes some way in readdressing the imbalance that continues to smother the modern age.<\/p>\n