Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004)

94% of critics liked it
(31 reviews)
81% of users liked it
(8,111 ratings)

The celebrated singer and songwriter Steve Earle once said "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." Earle was hardly the only artist of note who loved Van Zandt's poetic, elliptical songs of love and… More The celebrated singer and songwriter Steve Earle once said "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." Earle was hardly the only artist of note who loved Van Zandt's poetic, elliptical songs of love and dashed hopes -- Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, the Cowboy Junkies, and Nanci Griffith are among the many performers who have recorded his work, and he was a key inspiration for much of the Texas singer/songwriter community, including Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Lyle Lovett. However, while Van Zandt was greatly admired by his peers and a small cult of passionate admirers, it was other artists who had hits with his songs, not him, and this gifted but troubled man was haunted by drug and alcohol addiction much of his life. Van Zandt also had difficult relationships with his family and three wives, and at the age of 20, he was given shock treatments which wiped out nearly all of his childhood memories. In the 1990s, Van Zandt's public profile began to grow larger, and he was signed to a major record label for the first time in 1996, but as often happened in his songs, fate stepped in, and Van Zandt died following hip surgery on New Year's Day, 1997. Filmmaker Margaret Brown, a longtime fan of Townes Van Zandt, examines both his life and his art in the documentary Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt, which includes interviews with many of his close friends, family members and collaborators, including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Shelley, Guy Clark, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: Margaret Brown, Margaret Browne
Genres: Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest

In Theaters: Dec 2, 2005 Limited
On DVD: Mar 14, 2006
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader
This may not be a solid biography, but it feels true.
Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News
[An] honest, sobering and poignant tribute to a tortured talent who died young and left behind a treasure chest of songs.
Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle
A documentary that in its spirit and feel catches some of the vulnerability and naive optimism of its subject, Van Zandt.
Lou Carlozo, Chicago Tribune
A less-than-satisfying examination of the country singer's art, career and demons.
Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter
Rather than connecting all the chronological dots, Brown has fashioned Van Zandt's balm-to-the- brokenhearted legacy into potent cinematic poetry.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
An unnarrated collection of gently told reminiscences that rove impressionistically, the film touches on various points in a career that remained a well-kept secret from the start, when Van Zandt began performing in the late 1960s.
Christopher Campbell, Cinematical
A surprisingly deep understanding of an otherwise obscure artist.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Loving but unflinching documentary on celebrated singer and songwriter Townes Van Zandt.
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit
Van Zandt gets his own documentary
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
He may not have been a good guy, but fellow musicians tend to focus on his work and they can't say enough good things about his talent. They sing his praises and sing his songs.
Shawn Levy, Oregonian
Van Zandt comes across as humble, witty, empathetic, sympathetic and very, very gifted.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Manages a pretty fair portrait of Van Zandt and his personal demons, pressures and joys.
Jesse Paddock, culturevulture.net
Brown weaves together audio footage and taped interviews that show a man whose proximity to death had calcified into a sharp blade of self-deprecating wit.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
...required viewing for Van Zandt fans, probably required for country music fans, and even of interest to those with no great affection for either.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Unlike many music documentaries, this is not a drab, talking-heads affair but a portrait assembled from evocative images and songs.
Tim Grierson, L.A. Weekly
A sobering but compassionate look at a man who ultimately might have been even more troubled than gifted.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Vivid yet impressionistic, Margaret Brown's film tribute to the singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt brings the late musician and his career into rare focus.