SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN
Directed by Malik Bendjelloul
Is it a coincidence that two of the best music documentaries of all time ...
1) were both released in 2012; and
2) both take place in South Africa?
I have already enthused about Paul Simon's historic trip to South Africa as recounted in "Under African Skies." That doc seems to have gone 'straight to HBO' -- a fate that appears to be on the rise for many docs, raising the question of whether they are, or should be, eligible for Oscar consideration (a hot topic among documentarians).
The second (even better) documentary I saw this year begins on a beautiful coastal highway in Cape Town, as one of a devoted handful of American music devotees recounts an unbelievable story of Resurrection -- of a Seventies-era songwriter who was ignored by the rest of the world, most-egregiously by his native country: the United States.
The scene then shifts to the mean streets of Detroit, Michigan, where this unknown talent, RODRIGUEZ, has called home for the last 40 years. Rodriguez released two albums in the early 1970s that were met with universal indifference -- everywhere but in apartheid-era South Africa, where he achieved a kind of cult status (his song "I Wonder" became an anthem for white anti-apartheid youth in the Seventies). Another testament to his popularity: several stories recounting his on-stage suicide became legend.
The film does a thorough job or following the how and why of this unlikely success, including how it happened in such isolation that no one outside of South Africa knew about it. (The royalty checks were sent to a now-defunct record company--the filmmaker didn't pursue this part of the story beyond interviewing a rather contentious Clarence Avant, the company's founder).
As the story progresses, back and forth from Detroit to Cape Town (enhanced by beautiful cinematography-- a documentary rarity), you slowly realize how the legend of Rodriguez can never happen again in our Internet-saturated world. In the pre-Google 1990s when these events took place, however, it took a journalist's detective work (not to mention a crude website with Rodriguez's likeness drawn on a milk carton!) to uncover the truth: he was not dead, but alive and living as a blue collar family man in the same Detroit neighborhood where many of his songs are set.
This would remain only an interesting story if the music this man produced on those two albums weren't so brilliant (from the first moment you hear a song on the soundtrack, you know he is a special talent). Comparisons to Dylan are tossed around by a couple of record executives -- and they are not that far off. ("Sugar Man" refers to his drug dealer). The potential this guy had, based on his two albums, seems limitless.
It is satisfying to watch the re-discovery and inevitable South African tour -- but very little is learned from the interview with the man himself. Sixto Rodriguez must not open-up in interviews (a South African journalist says as much towards the end). But that does not take away from the incredible story of this man's life. I'm looking into U.S. tour dates right now (October 23rd -- House of Blues, Houston).
