The Oscar nominations for Best Feature Documentary don’t always get a lot of attention unless there’s a really high profile movie up for the award, i.e. An Inconvenient Truth. This year isn’t really much different. I didn’t really know of any docs that came out this year until, first, I heard that two guys that I went to school with (and are kinda my competition in Production Sound in town) worked on The Invisible War, a film about the often ignored problem of rape in the US Army, and second, when I heard that Searching For Sugar Man was about the musician Rodriguez.
My connection to Rodriguez is almost thinner than my connection to The Invisible War if it wasn’t for the fact that I got to see him play live at the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival in Australia in 2007. If you’re ever in Byron Bay (extremely specific, I know… but you should make the trip!) then I highly suggest you check out this festival. Just look at this year’s lineup (Rodriguez included)! Needless to say, it’s worth every ridiculous penny I spent.
But when I saw him play live, I had never heard a single one of his songs and had no idea why I had even wandered over to see him, but I’m really glad I did. He has a really timeless sound (you know, that timeless sound that was most prevalent in the late 60’s) and has a lot to say with his music. Like they say in the embedded trailer below, he was almost heard of in America, which is really a shame since I think he fit into the entire feel and movement of the time when the album Searching For Sugar Man was released.
So anyways, it’s a three step process:
1. Watch the trailer below.
2. Watch the movie. The DVD was released in January, but I’m not sure what all avenues it’s available through.
3. Check out Rodriguez’s music. Searching For Sugar Man (1970) is essential listening, then Catch The Light (2005) and Coming From Reality (2009) are just him being awesome after he was rediscovered in 1998.
Here’s the trailer:
Then, I also just found his website which explains a little bit more about how the two guys went about making the documentary and the search for Rodriguez which ended with him making a comeback. Pretty cool.
If you check out his music or movie (or maybe you’ve been a fan since 1970), let me know what you think.
Corrections: All of the information I got for his music was from Spotify. “Searching for Sugar Man”, which it says was released in 1970 is actually the soundtrack to the documentary, while Cold Fact (1970) and Coming From Reality (1971) were his studio albums in the early 70’s. Meanwhile, Catch The Light might just be some other guy with the name Rodriguez (I figure there’s only about 4 million of them).
I’ve been listening to his music—definitely cool stuff! Now I’ve just gotta check out the movie. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yeah, this is a great doc; made my top 6 of 2012 list.
He is a lot like Bob Dylan. That’s so cool you saw him live (in Australia, no less).
Glad you liked it! It looks great, but it also seems like one of those movies that could be hard to track down, much like the man himself. Hopefully I can check it out soon.
And it was really cool getting to see him, even though I was completely oblivious to what was happening at the time. I liken it to this scene from Starship Troopers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yb3fOs3NlM
I just saw a bunch of kids running in a certain direction, and if they’re running then there’s probably something worth running to! It was pretty cool.
I saw this movie last night and it was really good! If I may make a suggestion, though, I’d say maybe DON’T watch the trailer, if you’ve not yet. Just take our word for it that it’s a good movie.
His music is also really good, and like they express multiple times in the movie, it’s pretty crazy that he wasn’t the hottest thing going when his albums came out.
In any case, he seems like an really interesting guy, and I’m glad I checked out this movie.