Some stories are almost too strange to be real, but this documentary tells one that will have you captivated. This movie is about Rodriguez, a musician I had never heard of before. He’s an American artist who never made it there, but who played a big part in the history of South Africa. He had a big following there and any serious South African record collector has to have his records besides those of greats like the Beatles. Unlike the Beatles though no one seemed to know anything about him. Not where he lived or even if he was still alive. There were crazy stories about how he had died, but nothing could be confirmed. Until two people decided to find the truth about him.
This documentary succeeds in making you care for the mystery it tries to unravel. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know Rodriguez, but once you hear his music and hear the role that music played you are hooked. You want to know more about this man and this movie offers it. With not much to go on it seems an impossible task to find out more and the question is whether these people will succeed in finding Rodriguez.
It’s hard to talk about this documentary and not give anything away, so I’m going to keep this review short and just suggest you see this documentary as soon as you can. There is a very good reason it has received an Oscar nomination.
I just watched this the other day too. Terrific documentary that really gets at the idea of keeping a myth alive, preserving magic and spirit. It’s an amazing story that’s too good to be true, and of course having never heard of him, he’s a brilliant musician. Just listened to both his albums today and they are terrific, provocative, evocative works full of emotion. It’ll probably win the Oscar too.
Yeah, it is amazing to watch, especially if you don’t know anything about him. Haven’t heard his albums, but I do want to check them out. Thanks for commenting!
I really ought to see this one. I missed it in its run in theaters but I was planning to watch it. Nice review.
Thanks a lot, a documentary that can’t be missed 🙂
This sounds intriguing!
It really is, give it a chance if you can.
I listened to the soundtrack, it’s essentially his greatest hits, and made my top 10 albums of 2012. Sure is a powerful mix of cinematography and music, when Rodriguez walks down the street in that documentary.
Still have to do that, but from what I heard in the movie I can understand why it made your top 10.
This is one of the 2012 docs I still need to see. Glad to see you love this one Nostra.
You really do Ruth! And check out my Paul Verhoeven interview if you can, I managed to ask him something about Robocop and the remake.
A wise choice to not reveal too much. I didn’t know anything about this film when I originally saw it. I was blown away. It’s quite an emotional experience actually. I hope it wins the Oscar!
I always try not to reveal too much in my reviews and it was pretty hard to do so in this one. It was a great documentary and wouldn’t mind it winning the Oscar.