#jennkaiser

In a lot of ways, I think this movie is about the importance of this place and what it was like to grow up there for Nas and his brother.  The images show Queensbridge in both ordinary and beautiful ways.  

The director does a good job giving the viewer a feeling of this particular place.  It’s not a beautiful place, but at the same time it is.  

I also like the creative ways the past’s influence on the story is shown through images like this.  This beautiful shot of a bridge at sunset begins the story of Nas’s father and how he grew up in the south and came to live in New York.  Here’s a different bridge, not the Queensboro Bridge, that takes us to another part of the story -- the dynamics of his family and the creativity and talent of the people in Nas’s life that influenced the type of artist he grew up into.  

Even though this movie connects outwards to places and the past, there is also something solitary and singular in the imagery of Nas too.  

When Nas is telling his story, he is always alone.  We hardly see him interacting with anyone.  

Bruce Springsteen

This album came out in 1973, but I think the vintage postcard has that classic feel that will always have relevance.  I also like how the emphasis is on Asbury Park, rather than the artist, whose name is less prominent.  It’s like he’s literally letting you see inside this particular place through this album.  

Green Day

I think the grouping here makes a big visual impact.  The band’s name, the album name on one side, and the image of the bloody heart grenade on the other.  The fist is forceful, coming up from the left to the right hand side of the cover --  it’s almost like a punch in the face, like their music.  

Lupe Fiasco

One of the main visual elements used in Searching for Sugar Man are these overhead shots of landscape, whether it be of Detroit or South Africa.  I was struck by the way that Detroit and South Africa look a lot similar from overhead.  The water, the smoke stacks, the industrial buildings, made a visual connection between the two places in an unexpected way.  This is a movie about the connection of these two places in different parts of the world, and its a story that can be told through images of these two places.  

Except Detroit is cold and Rodriguez trudges through it’s landscape.  This visual imagery highlights the relationship between Rodriguez and Detroit.  

The moment I saw this window, I knew we were going to see Rodriguez for the first time.  It created an exciting moment, staged in a dramatic way, but also visually calming.  

This was an interesting decision made by the director to construct this whole film about this man and his music, but we do not see him in person until this moment.  In some ways it’s a bit contrived, but it works because it underscores how the focus of this movie is not for the viewers to get an in depth portrayal of the man Rodriguez, but rather to get an in depth look at the way his music impacted the lives of people across the globe.