EVERY good documentary has as its starting point a great story, and Malik Bendjelloul's film can certainly boast that. Sixto Rodriguez was a minor folk singer in his home city of Detroit. Unbeknown to him, word of mouth, and an American tourist packing his albums in her suitcase, had made him an underground hit in apartheid South Africa. Bendjelloul traces the singer's story and what happened when two of Rodriguez's fans tried to find out more about their mysterious hero. Bendjelloul assembles a fine cast of talking heads and lets the story unfold slowly. While one has the nagging sense that there are other layers of the tale yet to be uncovered, and Rodriguez's music, a little bit Dylan, very 1970s, isn't quite the revelation one expects, this is a highly satisfying watch.
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