Searching for Sugar Man

Last updated

Searching for Sugar Man
Searching-for-sugar-man--poster.jpg
US theatrical release poster
Directed by Malik Bendjelloul
Written byMalik Bendjelloul
Produced by
Starring Sixto Rodriguez
CinematographyCamilla Skagerström
Edited byMalik Bendjelloul
Music byRodriguez
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • NonStop Entertainment
    (Sweden)
  • StudioCanal
    (United Kingdom)
Release dates
  • 19 January 2012 (2012-01-19)(Sundance)
  • 26 July 2012 (2012-07-26)(United Kingdom)
  • 24 August 2012 (2012-08-24)(Sweden)
  • 22 February 2013 (2013-02-22)(Finland)
Running time
86 minutes
Countries
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • Finland
LanguageEnglish
Box office$9.1 million [1]

Searching for Sugar Man is a 2012 documentary film about a South African cultural phenomenon, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was true and, if not, to discover what had become of him. Rodriguez's music, which had never achieved success in his home country of the United States, had become very popular in South Africa, although little was known about him there.

Contents

On 10 February 2013, the film won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary at the 66th British Academy Film Awards in London [2] and two weeks later, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood. [3] [4]

Production

While he initially used Super 8 film to record some stylised shots for the film, director Malik Bendjelloul ran out of money for more film to record the final few shots. After three years of cutting-room work, the main financial backers of the film threatened to withdraw funding to finish it. [5] Bendjelloul resorted to filming the remaining stylised shots on his smartphone using an iPhone app called 8mm Vintage Camera. [6]

Release

Searching for Sugar Man was the opening film at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012, [7] where it won the Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award for best international documentary. It was released in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2012, and had a limited release (New York and Los Angeles) in the United States the following day.

The film performed well during its theatrical release, earning $3,696,196 at the US box office (81st of all US docs on Box Office Mojo). [8]

Reception

Critical response

Searching for Sugar Man received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 95% approval rating based on reviews from 133 critics, with an average score of 8.0/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "A fascinating portrait of a forgotten musical pioneer, Searching for Sugar Man is by turns informative and mysterious." [9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [10]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a glowing four-star review, writing "I hope you're able to see this film...and yes, it exists because we need for it to." [11] The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis also wrote a positive review, calling the film "a hugely appealing documentary about fans, faith and an enigmatic Age of Aquarius musician who burned bright and hopeful before disappearing." [12] Dargis subsequently named Searching for Sugar Man one of the 10 best films of 2012. [13]

Criticism

The film's narrative of a South African story about an American musician omits that Rodriguez was successful in Australia in the 1970s and toured there in 1979 and 1981. [14] Because of this omission, some critics have accused it of engaging in "myth-making". [15] [16] However, the film focuses on Rodriguez's mysterious reputation in South Africa and the attempts of music historians there to track him down in the mid-1990s. South Africans were unaware of his Australian success due to the harsh censorship enacted by the apartheid regime, [17] coupled with international sanctions that made any communication with the outside world on the subject of banned artists virtually impossible. [18]

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is a compilation of songs from Rodriguez's two studio albums, as well as three tracks from his unfinished third album. It reached No. 3 in Sweden in early 2013 when the Academy Award nomination was announced, and had been in the charts for 26 weeks by the time it received the award in February 2013. In Denmark, the soundtrack reached No. 18, and in New Zealand it reached No. 24.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixto Rodriguez</span> American musician (1942–2023)

Sixto Diaz Rodríguez, mononymously known as Rodríguez, was an American musician from Detroit, Michigan.

Chris Terrio is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, a BAFTA, and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for this work.

<i>Man on Wire</i> 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh

Man on Wire is a 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Petit's 2002 book, To Reach the Clouds, released in paperback with the title Man on Wire. The title of the film is taken from the police report that led to the arrest of Petit, whose performance lasted for almost an hour. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs of the walk, alongside re-enactments and present-day interviews with the participants, including Barry Greenhouse, an insurance executive who served as the inside man.

<i>Amour</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Michael Haneke

Amour is a 2012 romantic drama film written and directed by the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert. The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives abroad. Anne has a stroke that paralyses the right side of her body. The film is an international co-production among the French, German, and Austrian companies Les Films du Losange, X-Filme Creative Pool, and Wega Film.

<i>Barbara</i> (2012 film) 2012 film

Barbara is a 2012 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold and starring Nina Hoss. The film competed at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012, where Petzold won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the shortlist.

<i>The Imposter</i> (2012 film) 2012 British film directed by Bart Layton

The Imposter is a 2012 documentary film about the 1997 case of a French confidence trickster Frédéric Bourdin, who pretended to be Nicholas Patrick Barclay, an American boy who had disappeared in Texas at the age of 13 in 1994. The film was directed by Bart Layton. It mainly includes interviews with Bourdin but also with members of Barclay's family, as well as archive television news footage and reenacted dramatic sequences.

<i>The Gatekeepers</i> (film) 2012 Israeli film

The Gatekeepers is a 2012 internationally co-produced documentary film by director Dror Moreh that tells the story of the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet, from the perspective of six of its former heads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malik Bendjelloul</span> Swedish film and documentary director

Malik Bendjelloul was a Swedish documentary filmmaker, journalist and actor. He directed the 2012 documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award.

<i>20 Feet from Stardom</i> 2013 US documentary film by Morgan Neville

20 Feet from Stardom is a 2013 American documentary film directed by documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville and produced by Gil Friesen, a music industry executive whose curiosity to know more about the lives of background singers inspired the making of the film. Using archival footage and new interviews, it details the behind-the-scenes experiences of such backup singers as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Jo Lawry, Claudia Lennear, and Tata Vega. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards, 23 years after In the Shadow of the Stars (1991), a similar documentary that focused on the members of an opera chorus, won the same award.

The 34th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 21 to 30 June 2012. Dukhless was selected as the opening gala film and closed with Beloved by Christophe Honoré. The Golden George was awarded to Junkhearts (2011) directed by Tinge Krishnan.

<i>The Square</i> (2013 film) 2013 Egyptian film by Jehane Noujaim

The Square is a 2013 Egyptian-American documentary film by Jehane Noujaim, which depicts the Egyptian Crisis until 2013, starting with the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 at Tahrir Square. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards. It also won three Emmy Awards at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, out of four for which it was nominated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johar Bendjelloul</span> Swedish television presenter and journalist

Johar Bendjelloul is a Swedish television presenter and journalist.

<i>The Look of Silence</i> 2014 film

The Look of Silence is a 2014 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer about the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66. The film is a companion piece to his 2012 documentary The Act of Killing. Executive producers were Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, and Andre Singer. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.

<i>Finding Vivian Maier</i> 2013 American film

Finding Vivian Maier is a 2013 American documentary film about the photographer Vivian Maier, written, directed, and produced by John Maloof and Charlie Siskel, and executive produced by Jeff Garlin.

Pia Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul is a Swedish translator.

<i>13th</i> (film) 2016 American documentary film

13th is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison–industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States". The title refers to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude, except as punishment for convicted criminals. The film argues that this exemption has been used to continue the practice of involuntary servitude in the form of penal labor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Cooley</span> Musician

Dave Cooley is an American mastering engineer and audio restoration specialist. His numerous mastering credits include J Dilla's Donuts and The Diary, Paramore's After Laughter, 40th anniversary release of Bob Marley's Exodus box set, the reissue of Isaac Hayes' Concord Records albums, as well as albums from independent labels Domino, Tuff Gong, Stones Throw Records, and Light in the Attic Records and artists M83, Ziggy Marley, J Dilla, Peanut Butter Wolf, Madvillain, Madlib and Animal Collective. He has worked on Grammy-nominated albums for Silversun Pickups, including their debut album Carnavas, and its follow up, Swoon which included the hit “Panic Switch”, as well as Ziggy Marley's Fly Rasta, which won Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2015. His remastering work for Sixto Rodriguez appeared in the soundtrack for Searching for Sugar Man, which was awarded an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2013. He also mixed These New Puritans' album Hidden, named album of the year in 2010 by NME magazine.

<i>Collective</i> (2019 film) 2019 film

Collective is a 2019 documentary film directed, written, produced and edited by Alexander Nanau. The film centers on the 2016 public health scandal following the Colectiv nightclub fire. The film follows dual stories of investigative journalists at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor uncovering public healthcare corruption and maladministration, and the government's response to the crisis at the Ministry of Health.

References

  1. "Searching for Sugar Man". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. "Full list of Bafta award winners",The Independent, 10 February 2013: Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  3. "The 2013 Oscars Best Documentary Award", Docomentaryhive.com, 25 February 2013.Archived 19 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  4. "The 85th Academy Awards (2013) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  5. Sveriges Radio, Sommar i P1: Florent Chouvet; Summary in English: "You've only got three months" Retrieved 14 May 2014
  6. $1.99 iPhone app saved Oscars film CNN Money
  7. Vulture.com, 21 January 2012: Sundance: The Electrifying Search For Sugar Man. Retrieved 26 February 2013
  8. "Searching for Sugar Man on Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  9. "Searching for Sugar Man (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  10. "Searching for Sugar Man Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  11. Ebert, Roger (8 August 2012). "Searching for Sugar Man". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  12. Dargis, Manohla (26 July 2012). "Searching for Sugar Man". The New York Times . Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  13. Dargis, Manohla (14 December 2012). "Against the Odds, Smart Films Thrive at the Box Office". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  14. Watt, Andrew (28 February 2013). "International man of mystery". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  15. Stewart, Rebecca L. "Searching For Sugar Man: myth-making at its best?". The Vine. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  16. Cody, Bill (21 January 2013). "'Searching For Sugar Man' – True Story or the Making of a Myth?". Rope of Silicon. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  17. Davis, Sue (9 October 2012). "Music that impacted anti-apartheid struggle". Workers World. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  18. Rohter, Larry (20 July 2012). "A Real-Life Fairy Tale, Long in the Making and Set to Old Tunes". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  19. McCollum, Brian (10 January 2013). "Sixto Rodriguez rides the wave of 'Searching for Sugar Man' success". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  20. Sapa-AFP. "Sugar Man takes Oscar". DailyNews. Reuters. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  21. Germain, David (25 February 2013). "Oscars 2013: 'Argo' Takes Home Best Picture at 85th Academy Awards". Moviefone. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  22. "IDA Documentary Awards 2012 | International Documentary Association". Documentary.org. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  23. "Affleck, Argo win big at Critics' Choice Awards". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  24. Gallo, Phil (25 June 2012). "Rodriguez Doc 'Searching for Sugar Man' Wins Audience Award at L.A. Film Fest". Billboard. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  25. "Durban International Film Festival: All the winners | Welcome to The Movies". Themovies.co.za. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  26. "34th Moscow Int'l Film Festival Award Winners | Filmmaking in Russia". Russianfilm.biz. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  27. "Winners of the IDFA 2012 Awards announced". Amsterdam, Netherlands: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  28. "Doha Tribeca Film Festival". Doha Film Institute . Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  29. "The 2013 Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking". Cinemaeyehonors.com. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  30. Krausz, Peter (22 February 2013). "AFCA Award Winners". AFCA. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  31. "AFCA 2012 Nominees". Subculture Media. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2013.