“Searching for Sugar Man” Review in Brief

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 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 in the Nick Drake mold — say plenty too. Its case firmly made that Rodriguez belongs among the most adored of American troubadours, this movie might well reestablish him.