In the early seventies, a young musician from Detroit, going by the name of Rodriguez, was struggling to kick-start his music career. Although many who worked with him held him in high esteem – even going as far to compare him with Bob Dylan – the fact that literally no one bought his second album meant that Rodriguez simply gave up on the musical dream.

Unbeknownst to him and, as it turns out, everyone else in North America, copies of his albums ended up in South Africa, where they became hugely successful. To illustrate, at the time Rodriguez was a bigger artist than The Rolling Stones.

Not long after, news reached South Africa that Rodriguez had turned up one night for a gig and killed himself on stage and that was the end of that.

A number years later, with the legend of Rodriguez still incredibly popular in South Africa, a couple of fans, one of whom was a journalist, decided to look into this obscure artist's background, as very little was actually known about him. As they dug around they discovered far more about the singer than they ever imagined.

Rodriguez was really impressed with the power of Instagram.

For a documentary to work, especially one focused on one individual, it has to find some way for an audience to relate to its protagonist. The task obviously becomes far more difficult when there's very little information around concerning your main subject. Considering this major drawback, director Malik Bendjelloul does a truly remarkable job with his debut feature.

Very little had been written about or archived about this musician, and yet Bendjelloul does a fascinating job of narrating this incredible tale. Rodriguez comes across as a real musical enigma, who despite an intense raw talent, failed to make any kind of impact on home soil. This led to him leading a simple life of working whatever construction type jobs he could in his hometown of Michigan.

Then you have the counterweight story of him being completely unaware of his music being phenomenally successful on the other side of the world.

Even though Bendjelloul knew that convincing people of this story with little input from Rodriguez himself would be a tough sell, he had supreme confidence in his musical legacy to help carry the film. And quite right too. His music, full of pathos and sharply observed social commentary, gently carries the film on its way on its broad shoulders. It's a soundtrack not only to the film, but to an extraordinary musician's life.

The most disappointing aspect of the film is that in one sense you come away from it not knowing nearly as much as you find yourself wanting to. But then that's also part of its charm; in a subtle way, it fans the flames surrounding the mystery of the man and musician, which is probably just the way Rodriguez would want it.

Even if you're not a fan of the style of music he played, his touching, heartfelt story won't fail to hit all the right notes with you.