Searching for Sugar Man
Have you ever watched a movie that just stuck with you? Searching for Sugar Man is one of those movies, which I saw when I went over for movie night with my friends Ryan and Kevin. Kevin had seen it at Sundance (Yeah, nbd… he’s just cool like that!), and enjoyed it so much that he wanted us to see it too. In fact, this film recently won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. I’m not sure how I missed hearing about this, but since it’s not Harry Potter and doesn’t star Bradley Cooper, I’m not entirely surprised…
Movie Night! Photography by Kevin 🙂
Searching for Sugar Man is a Swedish-British documentary, chronicling the late 1990’s efforts of two South African fans looking for information regarding their favorite 1970’s musician, Sixto Rodriguez, an American singer/song-writer. What makes the story interesting is that while Rodriguez’ music gained immense popularity in apartheid-era South Africa, he was unheard of in the US. Another twist was the notorious rumors of his death, made plausible by the fact that no appearances or interviews were made by Rodriguez during that period.
What really made the film captivating for me was the soundtrack. The songs truly capture the essence of the seventies and really drew me into the storyline. In fact, the protagnists of the film credit Rodriguez’ music for influencing young South Africans to question and rebel against authority during the oppressive political climate of the time. Having recently traveled to South Africa myself, it was really interesting to learn more about its history and culture, which added another layer of depth to the film. I liked the music so much that I actually downloaded the soundtrack the next day!
So whatever came of the mysterious figure known as Rodriguez? Check out this film, and you’ll find out!
Kavi360 
My cell phone photography skills available for hire for anyone else who will watch this movie.
He does weddings & bar mitzvahs too, folks 😉
I saw this movie on a recent flight. The longer the movie continued, the more interesting it go and when the big reveal happened, my jaw dropped! Thank for sharing.
Since I had never heard of the film before, much less of Rodriguez, I was surprised as well! Thanks for checking out my blog 🙂
Another blogger friend is a huge fan! Her two posts on Sugar Man Rodriguess are here & here
Hi Madhu, thanks for the links – I’ll have to check those out!