Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Starring: Rodriguez, South Africans

Synopsis:  Rodriguez was an excellent folk singer in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but success eluded him until his music was discovered by South Africans, who used his anti-establishment lyrics as rallying songs against apartheid. Several years later, South African filmmakers, who had presumed Roriguez was dead by suicide, find him in Detroit, and he plays to big crowds in South Africa roughly 30 years after his music career tanked in the U.S.

Best part(s): Rodriguez taking the stage in South Africa for the first time to throngs of adoring fans, something he waited decades for and was long overdue.

Worst part(s): Rodriguez’s non-singing voice.

Best line(s): 

“Cause they told me everybody’s got to pay their dues

And I explained that I had overpaid them”

-Rodriguez – “Cause”

Overall: OK, so, don’t get me wrong, this is a nice story. Rodriguez’s music really is good, and it’s a shame that success eluded him for whatever reason. I’m really glad that he’s doing well now, better late than never. However, I just don’t get why people think this documentary is so amazing. It’s good, and worth watching, but all you hear about it is how Jesus Christ must have handed this documentary down from the heavens. It just didn’t grab me that way. I think there’s two main reasons for that:

1. Everyone in South Africa thought Rodriguez was dead, and most thought he set himself on fire onstage. Soooooo, nobody in the entire country really bothered to check that out? It seemed like the filmmakers actually found him pretty easily when they just tried. No one else could have done that at some point? Especially for someone they claim was bigger than the Rolling Stones over there? I know they had restrictions due to apartheid, but that ended in the mid-’90s. We’ve had the internet since then. And phones.

2. Rodriguez is an extraordinarily boring person. His story is fascinating, but he’s like a piece of living drywall. I get that he’s humble, but man. When he talks tree sloths tell him to perk the f*ck up. He’s the opposite of a sugar rush.

So when he finally takes the stage in South Africa near the end, I was like, “OK, good for him… That’s it?” I had more of an emotional connection when Anvil took the stage at their comeback concert. But still, like I said, worth watching, and maybe you’ll connect with Rodriguez and South Africans who can’t Google “What happened to Rodriguez?”

Score: 6.5 men made of sugar (out of 10)