96% Searching for Sugar Man

All Critics (93) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (4)

The search for a long-lost pop icon has an unexpected payoff.

[A] moving, lyrical account ...

Director Malik Bendjelloul's engaging, cleverly structured documentary about the legendary folk singer Rodriguez is shaped like a mystery.

If you like music, a good mystery or, better yet, a combination of both, you won't be disappointed.

An electrifying illustration of music's power to inspire and change lives on both sides of the footlights.

Submitted for your approval: one Sixto Rodriguez, a Mexican-American singer/songwriter whom Rod Serling would surely embrace, in or out of the Twilight Zone.

One of the most bizarre pop music documentaries ever...a singularly fascinating true-life tale that many of its participants still find difficult to believe.

...it isn't merely the content that makes Searching for Sugar Man so affecting: it's the way that Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul sets up the story and peels away the mystery of Rodriguez, one layer at time.

A mystery as compelling as any fictional detective story.

The first half of this film is mysterious whereas the second half is wonderfully inspiring. It's proof that truth really is stranger than fiction.

This is a fine documentary; insightful and entertaining with a genteel approach to uncovering a figure so close to the hearts of an unexpected fan base.

A celebration of an artist and the power of art to transcend time and place

Much credit to director Malik Bendjelloul for surprising this cynical and desensitised film watcher.

For those familiar with the story of Rodriguez, this engaging documentary on his substantial success in South Africa will prove both illuminating and bemusing.

I was instantly hooked by this unique documentary...If you are a traveller on the road of life, don't miss this unforgettable treasure of a film

This is not only the best documentary I've seen this year, it's one that shows other documentaries how to do it.

Searching for Sugar Man reminds us that a wise man knows lasting riches are never the result of record sales.

Searching for Sugar Man" is a saga about the power of music, living life on one's own terms and the joy of second chances.

Two fans, Stephen Segerman and Craig Bertholomew, made it their business to find out exactly what happened to the singer Rodriguez. And, "Searching for Sugar Man" is the fruits of their labor. The fruit is tasting pretty sweet.

It starts as a bittersweet parable about the cruelty of commerce, but the wonder of "Searching for Sugar Man" will not soon slip away.

You watch "Searching for Sugar Man" at first fascinated by the mystery - what happened to Rodriguez? Where did he go? Then you become infuriated by its revelations of financial injustice.

An unexpectedly fresh nonfiction tale that rustles up deep feelings of a life stolen -- part docu-mystery, part uplifting valentine about the universality and resonating power of music.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/searching_for_sugar_man/

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