Walking the Streets With \'Sugar Man\'

By MEKADO MURPHY

The documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” tells the story of the veteran singer-songwriter Rodriguez, whose two albums from the late '60s and early '70s failed initially to resonate in the United States, but gained a strong following in South Africa. The film's director, Malik Bendjelloul, uses interviews, archival footage, animation and generous amounts of Rodriguez's music to depict Rodriguez's life.

For the segment below, Mr. Bendjelloul filmed Rodriguez out on a walk down Michigan Avenue in the Cass Corridor section of Detroit and set the walk to Rodriguez's song “Street Boy.”

“When you spoke to people on the streets of Detroit, they all talked about Rodriguez as the guy who was always on foot in a city where no one walks,” Mr. Bendjelloul said in a recent interview at The Times. “He walked extensively to places where people normally don't even go.”

Mr. Bendjelloul and his crew followed Rodrig uez on some walking excursions to show how he would spend his days. He got this footage, which looks like the camera is following Rodriguez on a dolly. But that wasn't the case. “We just used a car, driving really, really slowly, and a tripod on the floor,” he said.

Another scene, scored to the song “Crucify Your Mind,” uses animation to show Rodriguez's walking habits. This sequence starts with black and white illustrations drawn by Mr. Bendjelloul, then transitions to color animation made by a Swedish company the director employed.

Mr. Bendjelloul had planned to use large amounts of animation in the film because there was so little documented footage of Rodriguez. But he ran low on financing and had to find other ways to tell the story. “In the end, there were only two places where we used animation,” he said. Those scenes were created early on when the film was well-funded.

“Searching for Sugar Man” opens in limited release on Frida y and the film's soundtrack, featuring songs from both of the artist's albums, is now available.