I loved this documentary. They could have delved deeper in to the seedy lack of accountability shown by the record labels I feel.
Fantastic Story about an amazing man.
This is an amazing story.
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails..
yes ,Love never fails.. And here is a proof of that.
Amazing soundtrack and very good story even though the director omitted crucial parts of the story.
If you want an uplifting, feel good documentary, then this one is for you. It follows the story of an unknown singer and musician who, through a series of bizarre circumstances, became a huge hit in South Africa on level with Elvis, but without his knowledge. With rumors that he had died dramatically many years ago, two fans set out to find out what really happened to him. This is an odd Oscar choice because rather than showing struggle and tragedy like so many documentary nominees do, it gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling. And it's got some pretty good music, too.
Thirty years removed from the distribution of his last record, a small group of dedicated fans seek the truth behind the mysterious singer-songwriter known as Rodriguez. Though his career was little more than a hiccup on his native American turf, it resonated with the oppressed majority in South Africa. There he's become a legendary figure; the myth of Rodriguez is larger than life, complete with multiple urban legends which debate the nature of his untimely demise.
Wonderfully produced, with gorgeous transitions and an artist's sense of composition, the material and its resolution left me underwhelmed. No matter how many times the narrators try to compare Rodriguez to the heavyweights of his era - Dylan, the Stones, Elvis - I just can't hear what they're hearing, and that makes the magnitude of his story harder to appreciate. It's an entertaining yarn, with a good twist or two up its sleeve, but too often I felt like it was belaboring a point in lieu of additional substance. Light viewing with a penetrating warmth and a catchy soundtrack.
I loved it! I experienced some new emotions while watching it! anyone else did?
Different and inspiring!
‘Searching for..’ is a documentary about a 1970s rock n roll musician named Sixto Rodriguez, who was an unknown singer, songwriter, poet, and guitar player. He was a drifter from Detroit, Michigan, with no home and no money in his name. Some producers heard his talent and signed him to a contract. Rodriguez released two albums, which didn’t sell for reasons nobody understood. He gave a concert in Australia, which was a flop. The producers dropped him after that, and he disappeared into obscurity overnight.
Years later, one of his albums ended up in South Africa, and his work went through a renaissance. People created bootleg copies and passed them around the South African black market. At that time, South Africa was a police state at the peak of the apartheid. The government there was extremely conservative to the point televisions were considered communist technology. When Rodriguez’s album rose, the government banned and censored his tracks with any mention of drugs, sex, or violence. It didn’t stop the public. He became more popular than Elvis, Beatles like Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan in South Africa and South American countries. However, nobody had heard of him in Detroit or the USA. Nobody knew what had happened to him after the early 70s. There were rumors he had burned himself alive on stage in a suicide, and others that he had shot himself in the head after a performance. Decades later, several fans go off in search of what had actually happened. That’s where the story begins, in search of this mythical figure. Essentially a mystery with investigative journalists.
Would I recommend this? Yes. It’s a deep, touching, uplifting, and inspirational story. Genius exists in the world and places from people you would never expect. I had never heard of Rodriguez or even knew such a story was possible in the age of live television, newspapers, and digital technology.
One of the best music documentaries I’ve ever seen. RIP Sixto
When I first saw this very appreciated documentary by the now sadly deceased Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, in an almost empty cinema in Hallstahammar. So was it a really deep moving event. Because, neither in front nor behind me, so, did I have another viewer, how crunched on a nosy sweet, except myself. As I could not help myself from buying a Marabou Milk chocolate roll. But as the city of Detroit started to occur on the screen, through a black and white illustrations in the beginning of this documentary. Which Malik himself had drawn, added music to and edit, as there was no money to hire a professional painter so where I really blown away. And the feeling lasted until I found out that the musician Rodriguez, which the film revolves around would have committed an extremely cruel suicide. By either setting himself on fire. Or shot himself in front of a small crowd during a bar gig.
Well, it made me so stunned that the chocolate bar was uneaten during the whole movie. Because, from this moment, so do we already knowing how the story going to end. So why should I then see it to the end? Well, for me. So is it nice to hear about his carrier Which consisted of playing in small bars here and there in Detroit, in both the 60's and '70s. Until he was discovered by 2 Motown producers. And got to record an album in 1970 (Cold Fact), which certainly fell on critics' lips. But it flopped in terms of sales.
And unfortunately, things did not go better for his second album “Coming From Reality”.
So, he was dropped by his label. Which is surreal, because it occurred two weeks before Christmas - as he sings in one of his songs. And after we hear this news. So, is this movie hanging in the air, to use a Swedish expression. But luckily enough, so did a stay in my seat. I there-fore found out that Rodriguez was bigger than The Beatles in South Africa during the apartheid. As the album “Cold Fact” where smuggled into the country. But that was not reported to Rodriguez. No money where therefore getting into his pocket during this time and it has not either happen-ed even after this documentary where released as far as I know. But that is not a big deal if Rodriguez was dead. Witch is a really good question. Because, Bendjelloul makes his documenttary as if it were a murder investigation. We in the audience therefore never know more than 2 fans, who decided to find out the truth. And it keeps us on our toes at all times. And that's the best way to hear this story, and that's why I'm not going to say a word about how it ends.
Shout by AlexVIP OG 12BlockedParent2017-09-07T19:36:24Z
Thanks for keeping me alive!
Damn.