We had the chance to see a preview of Searching for Sugar Man tonight. I don’t like to read too much about films, because I hate spoilers. However, I did take note that it was from the producers of “Man on a Wire”, and it had 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I really don’t want to give away too much, because I found that even the parts I thought I had guessed were beyond what I would have thought. But the basic premise is that an obscure musician from the States greatly impacted a generation of South Africans, and without reaping any benefit from his overseas success, he vanishes with rumours of a spectacular suicide in front of a live audience. Two musicology detectives take on the case to find out what really happened to him.
The movie is so well-done and evoked a lot of emotion. The whole story is so far-fetched one would think it would make for a great movie drama… or even a comedy if it had a different ending. That real people were involved makes it all the more touching.
Searching for Sugar Man is released 4 October by Madman Entertainment.