Searching For Sugarman (2012)

Trevor · September 12, 2012, 03:21:00 AM

I saw this film last night and was knocked out by it to say the very least. It involves a mysterious artist named Sixto Rodriguez whose two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality went nowhere in the early 1970's and Rodriguez disappeared, never to be heard of again. There were rumors that he had killed himself onstage amongst others, but his music sold thousands of copies even in apartheid ruled South Africa where the censors were apparently too stupid to understand the lyrics of songs such as I Wonder and Sugarman.

Two people, Stephen Segerman and Craig Bartholomew made it their mission to track down the elusive and reportedly deceased singer: they succeeded and this film is not so much their story: more like the story of a supposedly failed musician who had become a legend in a nation crying for release from all the censorship and sturm und drang of apartheid ruled South Africa.

www.sugarman.org

Trevor · September 12, 2012, 04:11:52 AM

I should just add that Camilla Skagerstrom's cinematography is worthy of a major award.

Pacman000 · October 08, 2012, 10:16:57 AM

The news had a feature on this last night. It's actually an amazing story.

dean · October 08, 2012, 08:56:49 PM

I have my minor issues with the style of the documentary and some of the interviews but most of it was just wanting more information than they gave about Rodriguez and the apartheid musoc scene in general. Overall though it's a pretty good doco that is made better by a fascinating story.

All the better if you love the music.

Rev. Powell · October 08, 2012, 09:01:11 PM

Originally I thought this topic title was "searching for Saucerman" and I was going to say "he's right here."

I saw the trailer for this but I don't think it played here; if it did it came and went in a week. I may get a chance to see it on DVD.

Trevor · October 09, 2012, 01:28:39 AM

Quote from: Pacman000 on October 08, 2012, 10:16:57 AM
The news had a feature on this last night. It's actually an amazing story.

It is an amazing story: also quite sad in many ways too.

Trevor · October 09, 2012, 01:30:52 AM

Quote from: dean on October 08, 2012, 08:56:49 PM
I have my minor issues with the style of the documentary and some of the interviews but most of it was just wanting more information than they gave about Rodriguez and the apartheid musoc scene in general. Overall though it's a pretty good doco that is made better by a fascinating story.

All the better if you love the music.

My only hassle with the film is that they made much too much of the music supposedly undermining apartheid and becoming 'revolutionary songs': I call BS on all of that. The simple fact (a cold fact?

) is that the music spoke to a generation and set them free in their minds at least.

Trevor · October 09, 2012, 01:33:39 AM

Quote from: Rev. Powell on October 08, 2012, 09:01:11 PM
Originally I thought this topic title was "searching for Saucerman" and I was going to say "he's right here."

QuoteI saw the trailer for this but I don't think it played here; if it did it came and went in a week. I may get a chance to see it on DVD.

If you can see it, please do.

alandhopewell · October 11, 2012, 01:06:49 PM

Saw the "60 Minutes" report on it, YouTubed his music the next day; I can se how his songs spoke to the heartts of a generation, but not how he was overlooked here.

Trevor · November 29, 2012, 07:45:04 AM

Quote from: alandhopewell on October 11, 2012, 01:06:49 PM
Saw the "60 Minutes" report on it, YouTubed his music the next day; I can se how his songs spoke to the heartts of a generation, but not how he was overlooked here.

He sang of 'jumpers, coke and sweet mary-jane': Dad had to help me right when I thought he was singing about jerseys, coca-cola and his girlfriend.

His producer comes across as a class one a-hole, saying that the album Cold Fact sold about six copies in the USA. When he is told of the huge sales in SA, he says "WTF does South Africa have to do with this? How long they been free?" Idiot.

Trevor · December 04, 2012, 02:04:24 AM

I just read on Indywire that this production has been shortlisted for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar.

Trevor · February 19, 2013, 06:20:34 AM

One of my colleagues appears in this film (she's the archivist that shows the director what the powers-that-be ordered done to "undesirable" music back in the day: i.e. scratching the tracks to make them unplayable) and she told me that she is very, very proud of the film and what it has achieved.

So she should be.

Trevor · February 25, 2013, 01:09:43 AM

IT WON! IT WON! YES!!!!!!

Maybe I should tell you special peeps how I really feel.....

Archivist · March 30, 2013, 08:06:35 PM

I saw this amazing film last night. It's still playing in independent cinemas in Australia, and right after I was on Google to find out more about him. The trailer had come through my YouTube feed but I never thought it would get a theatrical release here. To say that I was awed and inspired would be understating things. It's a really remarkable story and the directorial and cinematic style is super. Very inspiring as well.

I'm kind of pi$$ed that I only just found out about this, because Rodriguez is touring Australia right now, but he plays his last gig tomorrow night in another state!

If I had seen this earlier I would have bought tickets to see him. The title track, Sugar Man, has such a good melody, and his voice is full of emotion.

It was quite disgusting to see how defensive Clarence Avant was when the question of sales and money was raised. If Rodriguez sold about 500,000 albums in South Africa, and they were sending the royalties back to Sussex Records, Rodriguez obviously never saw a cent of it. A bit of Googling shows that Sussex Records was closed and sold by the IRS off due to unpaid taxes, which suggests further dodginess.

Trevor, it sounds like you grew up in the time and environment that Rodriguez was popular. What was it like then? Was the movie an accurate depiction of the social climate of the time? Big props for you being an old work colleague of the archivist in the movie, too!

dean · March 31, 2013, 12:59:54 AM

A friend went and saw his concert in Melbourne last week and said he had to be led onto stage, was quite often out of time with the music and had to practice each song briefly before they played, so it was an underwhelming concert. Though to be fair he is getting quite old...

My dad was being all 'cool' and brought out the old Rodriguez records he bought in the 70s. I guess he wants to be in with the hipsters now and say 'I liked him before it was cool'.

[Something I'll have to steal off him at some point]