Review of Searching for Sugar Man (2012) by Mike N — 09 Feb 2013

I don't want to discuss the film too much for fear of spoiling it. Yet, "spoilers" are rarely a thing that can occur with documentaries. Indeed, how can one "spoil" history? It's cold fact, nothing deceptive.

Yet Searching For Sugar Man, in chronicling two South Africans search for informationAmerican folk artist named Rodriguez (who never made it in America but is bigger than Elvis in Cape Town), takes turns so unexpected it out-thrills this year's other manhunt flick by a mile.

Peppered with the music from his two failed albums, you get to see how a man who, legend has it, committed suicide during his final concert in Detroit could inspire a generation of anti-Apartheid protesters and become a South African folk hero.

Yet, with all of the questions the film explores and answers (and there are many, and the search for the truth will leave you on the edge of your seat, I promise), the one thing it can't explain is how such a gifted artist went unnoticed in America.