Albuquerque Confidential

The Guild Cinema has two features coming up that shouldn't be missed; I caught them both during their first run in Santa Fe. Each will make my year-end list in some fashion.

Searching for Sugarman (A) - Easily the best documentary of 2012, this tells the fascinating tale of Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter poised for stardom in the early 1970s, in the era of Jim Croce and James Taylor, who suddenly dropped off the radar. In America he sold only, by one facetious estimate, six copies of his masterpiece album, but he became a sensation in South Africa during the early days of the anti-apartheid movement. Even though we know how the story will turn out, the filmmakers are masterful at creating intrigue and suspense as they slowly unfold the story of the singer and the man. The songs still resonate with the power of early Dylan, and they'll haunt you long after you've left the theater. Don't miss this one.

Playing Wednesday through Sunday, Jan. 2-6.

Here's a link to the Guild's description, with link to the trailer.

Sister (A-minus) - A simple, sometimes gut-wrenching tale of an adolescent boy who lives with his much older sister and spends his days stealing winter gear from the skiers at a posh Swiss resort that looms over his modest home.  His sister, unable to properly support the two of them, is not shy about sharing in his bounty.  The boy eventually gets out over his skis, so to speak, when his plans get a bid grandiose as he partners with an English-speaking restaurant worker at the resort.  A fine bookend to the Dardennes brothers' "Kid on a Bike" from early in 2012. Kacey Mottet Klein is riveting as the very adult-like boy who is searching for love as much as the loot.

Playing Jan. 11-14. (Trailer)