Searching for Sugar Man
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: June 29, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 19, 2012
All music docs are not created equal. Yes, some are formulaic. But some are beautiful, some are singular, some are marvels of storytelling. And some, like Searching for Sugar Man, are all three. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSep 14, 2012
It starts as a bittersweet parable about the cruelty of commerce, but the wonder of Searching for Sugar Man will not soon slip away. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 8, 2012
The information they eventually dislodge about Rodriguez suggests a secular saint, a deeply good man, whose music is the expression of a blessed inner being. I hope you're able to see this film. You deserve to. And yes, it exists because we need for it to. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubAug 2, 2012
"Searching" has emotional valleys and zeniths, and gasp-inducing turns, as old friends, fans and Rodriguez's grown daughters are interviewed. Read full review
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 26, 2012
A musical detective story, this enthralling documentary focuses on a little-known American musician whose haunting voice and poetic lyrics were essentially unknown in his own country, but had a massive impact across the globe. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinJul 25, 2012
Though unabashedly manipulative in its storytelling and structure, Searching For Sugar Man ultimately earns its happy ending and buzzy, crowd-pleasing populist appeal by alchemizing trembling inner-city pain into transcendent international beauty. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 27, 2012
The truth-is-stranger-than-fiction saga has been a hit on the festival circuit, winning top documentary prizes at Sundance for Sweden's Bendjelloul. What sets Searching for Sugar Man apart, though, is the way in which the filmmaker preserves a sense of mystery in the telling. Read full review
90
NPRElla TaylorJul 27, 2012
Intentionally or not, Searching for Sugar Man catches all that - the fleeting moments of triumph and the years of endurance, the accumulation of family and the unquenched dreams - and doesn't presume to sew it all up for us. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanSep 20, 2012
Rodriguez' inner peace wins us over. He seems to have enjoyed recording music, fathering kids, cleaning houses, playing sold-out gigs and simply strumming a guitar in his kitchen. Searching for Sugar Man reminds us that a wise man knows lasting riches are never the result of record sales. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 9, 2012
At 85 minutes, it's a tight, sharp achievement, yet one of the things I love about it is simple: It moves to a relaxed rhythm, in sync with its slightly otherworldly subject. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJul 28, 2012
This is a real-life fairy tale with a remarkably happy ending. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJul 26, 2012
For a quarter of a century -- unbeknownst to most Americans, including Rodriguez's original producers -- the singer landed a massive following in the country where his humanitarian outlook provided an escape for many disgruntled youth struggling under apartheid, elevating him to the stature of a "South African Elvis." Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 23, 2012
Malik Bendjelloul really knows how to spin a yarn. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 26, 2012
Rodriguez's story is almost inconceivable in an obsessively magnified, heavily hyped Internet era. Which makes it all the more important to be shared. Listen, be moved, and pass it on. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 26, 2012
A hugely appealing documentary about fans, faith and an enigmatic Age of Aquarius musician who burned bright and hopeful before disappearing. Read full review
80
EmpireAnna SmithJul 23, 2012
Music fans will love this indie documentary. Try to avoid Googling him before you watch, though. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyJul 23, 2012
The tale is better than the telling – and the soundtrack's better still – but music this monumental demands its moment. Now go and buy the album. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 15, 2012
This documentary does boast some bowl-you-over reveals best experienced blind. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezSep 13, 2012
On one level, Searching for Sugar Man is a testament to how music - or painting or literature or any form of art - can take on a life far greater than its creator intended when it happens to connect with the right people at the right time. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerAug 2, 2012
A pleasing fix, Searching for Sugar Man is a lost-and-found film about pursuits – one of them abandoned, and one not. Read full review
75
MovielineMichelle OrangeJul 28, 2012
Sugar Man is most interesting when it touches on the conditions that combined to draw a cult hero out of some decent music and a generously enabled, imagination-firing mystique. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJul 27, 2012
Director Malik Bendjelloul expertly paces this strange and moving film, half mystery and half meditation on art, fame, the music biz and the definition of a meaningful life. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 26, 2012
A fresh and unexpected documentary that plays like a nail-biting mystery and a ticket to ride the whirlwind where art and commerce do battle. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMark HolcombJul 24, 2012
Fluid, open-ended documentaries that demand more of an audience than foregone assent or fleeting bouts of passive outrage are rare these days, which is what makes Malik Bendjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man such a gift. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis HarveyJun 26, 2012
A winning musical detective story about a failed, forgotten early '70s rocker. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJul 25, 2012
The yarn is too irresistible: We're fed plenty of sugar in this authorized fairy tale, but are left hungry for beef. Read full review
63
Washington PostMark JenkinsAug 2, 2012
The movie is neatly structured, and Rodriguez turns out to be an interesting guy. He's worth getting to know, even if his music isn't. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris CabinJun 26, 2012
Despite crafting a consistently engaging film, the director doesn't present the full scope of Sixto Rodriguez's life. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 26, 2012
This movie might itself make a modest contribution to rewriting the history of white South Africa. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJul 24, 2012
So why is this songwriter, so articulate on vinyl, so vague and spacey in current-day interviews? Something happened here, deeper than an aborted quest for fame, and the documentary hasn't gotten to it. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRay GreeneJun 26, 2012
Like "Anvil," this is a crowd-pleasing triumph of the spirit, framed around a story so bizarre it sounds like an urban legend. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweJun 26, 2012
While all the interview subjects are enthusiastic, the overall lack of familiarity with Rodriquez's personal background and career collapse begin to drag. Read full review
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