Searching for Sugar Man

There have been so many documentaries in recent past that it's given us a vast array of knowledge, and in some cases, in very entertaining ways. We've seen documentaries in the likes of "The Corporation" '03, "Super Size Me" '04, "Murderball" '05, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" '06, "Waiting for Superman" '10, all of the Michael Moore documentaries, and even this year's Disneynature' s "Chimpanzee. Well, we have yet another to add to that coral, and that's in the form of "Searching for Sugar Man".

South African Stephen 'Sugar Man' Segerman, treks out to discover what happened to his unlikely mystical hero, the mysterious, virtually unknown 1970's rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez. Being from Detroit, Michigan, he eventually found an audience in, of all places, South Africa. Here, however, he was a puzzle to audiences. Not many had heard of him, yours truly included. His style was somewhat akin to Bob Dylans's style in that it had a folksy side to it also. Back then, audiences didn't really go for Latino style music, even though it wasn't traditionally Latino. He made it to some local music labels, but where he received his true notoriety, was in South Africa. They loved Rodriguez, couldn't get enough of him. This chronicles his life, mostly through his family and his music, told mostly through different music producers i.e. Clarence Avant, Dennis Coffey, Steve Rowland, which worked with him.

This was written, edited, and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, and the way he composed this project, was like was a piece of art unfolding before your eyes. This was shot with intensity and grit by cinematographer, Camilla Stagerstrom,fsf. And, of course the original songs in this were by the consummate, Rodriguez.

I love documentaries, and this has got to be one of the best projects of that genre I've seen in a while. This man is hugely talented, and I'm so glad to see him represented here with such honesty and grit. Trust me, you will love this so much that you will want to get your hands on one of his CD's as soon as you leave the theater.

Out of 4 stars: 4                      Rated: PG-13                       86mins.