First, Rodriguez, the protagonist of the story, is a legendary singer himself. He made his fortune in Detroit in the 1970s, which is a decaying, poor and difficult city, but all these have become the nutrients for his creation, and he has refined one touching song after another. Having said that, his two albums were so underwhelming in the United States that no one knew who he was, like the mysterious figure with sunglasses on the cover of the album. In the end, the unhappy he was rumored to have set himself on fire at a concert. Since then, it seems that the world has evaporated, and no one knows his whereabouts again.
What is the record value of a dead two-piece singer? This is undoubtedly the curious point of "Finding Sweet Secrets". As a result, the director retraced the time series to 1968, and asked the music producers who had worked with Roriggs to take turns to express their views, including the surprise when they first met him and their evaluation of him. However, if this film is nothing more than that, it is not much different from most music documentaries built on interviews and singing scenes, and it may not be able to shine in major awards.
To be honest, the first half of "Looking for Sweet Secrets" is really unattractive, and it even makes people wonder how this film can win the favor of the Oscar judges? However, when the film began to enter the middle, I immediately fell deeply into it, and I was impressed by the musical magic of Rorigos, and at the same time, I was amazed by the director's storytelling skills. That's right, although this is a full-fledged documentary, the director is not willing to just record it. He wants to tell a story, a story full of suspense, so that the audience can learn more about the legendary life of Lorigos. Experience his charm as a singer.
Pop artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) famously said, "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." A music producer has also questioned why he failed to make a name for himself in the music world. But the truth is, Rorigos—his music, to be exact—was very popular, not in America, but in South Africa, thousands of miles away. Rorigos probably did not expect that after the music he used to express his life arrived in South Africa, it was regarded as a sign of anti-establishment, and it liberated the minds of the local people and opened up different thinking for them. There is a very interesting metaphor in the film: "In the United States, he is a bear (Zero); in South Africa, he is a hero (Hero)." It conveys the two completely different life situations of Lorigos.
A bear and a hero, Rorigos seems to live two lives; it is commendable that no matter where he is in, he can be at ease, satisfied and grateful for what he has in the moment. After all, in this big world, there are definitely not only Rorigos who are underappreciated. As the saying goes, the times make heroes, the situation in South Africa made him popular, and becoming the protagonist of the award-winning documentary also opened his popularity in the United States. Of course, this is not to imply that Rorigos' success was accidental. Although we don't know how much work he put into the music from the video, but after seeing him appear on stage and receiving applause from fans for several minutes, he just said calmly: "Thank you for keeping me alive." At the moment, in addition to being moved, I admire his bearing even more. Lorigos truly shows the extraordinary power of serenity and far-reaching.
Nicknamed "Little Sweet", the owner of the South African record store, Stephen. Sigmar (Stephen Segerman) mentioned at the end of the film: "Our lives have changed a lot, except for one person, that is Lorigos." Even if he became popular again, Lorigos left the stage, still Back to his normal life. He likes music, but he is never obsessed with the bright and bright under the spotlight, so he put on his sunglasses again and walked slowly on the street alone. It is because he is so down-to-earth and does not change his original intentions that he allows him to write music that is close to reality and close to people's hearts.
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