Searching for Sugar Man

Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary wonders what became of Sixto Rodriguez, the mysterious Mexican-American folk singer who in the 1970s was huge in South Africa, without even knowing it, while unaccountably irrelevant in his hometown of Detroit. Interesting story, actually—moving, surprising and somewhat spoilable by Google, so try to go in with ears open and already knowing as little as possible. Some mystery remains anyway; in Bendjelloul’s telling, a spirit of rediscovery trumps real investigation, but there’s enough substance here to discern Rodriguez as a man of genuine modesty and unfakeable street-poet steez. Tellingly, those who testify to his greatness include not just music-industry personnel but also a brewery owner and a construction worker. And the songs—dusky, unvarnished brooders of the Nick Drake variety—say plenty, too. Its case firmly made that Rodriguez belongs among the most adored of American troubadours, this movie might well reestablish him.