SXSW Film Reviews

BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT

D: Margaret Brown

Documentary Feature 24 Beats per Second

A now semifamous writer once told me he didn't rely on his subject's words; he was the writer. Margaret Brown knows Townes Van Zandt is the writer and lets him speak in this heartfelt documentary. Her job, she said at the film's premiere, is to delve into the "emotional truth" of this flawed genius from a wealthy background who chucked it all for the life of a modern-day troubadour/drunk. She accomplishes it by melding dreamy landscapes and point-of-view shots that have the viewer seeing into motel rooms and the road whistling past a car windshield. Van Zandt could have been a legend in his own lifetime if his self-destructive tendencies hadn't gotten in the way. Brown shows Van Zandt's warts, but also his humor and sadness. A joke Van Zandt used to tell from stage explains the clown under the frown: "Time flies like a bird; fruit flies like a banana."

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Alamo S. Lamar, 2pm