Review of Searching for Sugar Man (2012) by Brett B — 23 Feb 2013

Remarkable and strange, fascinating and uplifting, SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN is a singular experience, and one of the most unique stories (real or fictional) presented to cinema audiences in 2012. It starts off with the air of something almost like an investigative mystery (tracking down leads, and things of that sort), then it transforms into something altogether different (and even more interesting).

Although it touches an all kinds of widely-varied subjects (from the American music industry, to poverty, to apartheid, to censorship - it throws a lot of stuff in, but everything works as part of the whole), at its heart it's really a portrait of an extremely talented artist who - for whatever reasons - slipped through the cracks here in the States, only to be rediscovered years later (and halfway around the world!).

There's a contemplative quality to this film (heightened by some really evocative photography), a bittersweet kind of feeling, but I ultimately thought it was really uplifting and touching.