Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

           This documentary film about a Detroit folk musician named Rodriguez opened the 2012 Sundance festival, and is guaranteed to knock the socks off any music-loving baby boomer. Rodriguez produced two albums that were commercial flops before falling off the radar of anyone who had ever happened to notice him — Cold Fact (1970) and Coming From Reality (1971). With low sales and no buzz, Sussex Records dropped him like a hot potato. So Rodriguez quit performing, did demolition construction labor, and lived in the same dilapidated house in Detroit for the next forty years. Meanwhile, unknown to Rodriguez, a label in Australia bought the rights to his work and released his music, which then went platinum in South Africa and bestowed on him a cult status as an icon of social protest music. But exactly who was the obscure man behind the powerful music? Most people assumed that he was dead. Two fans tracked it all down, and this film is the result. The movie features numerous tracks from his two original albums.