Be Here to Love Me
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| Be Here to Love Me | |
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 Be Here to Love Me poster |
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| Directed by | Margaret Brown |
| Produced by | Margaret Brown Sam Brumbaugh |
| Starring | Townes Van Zandt Joe Ely Guy Clark Willie Nelson Kris Kristofferson Willie Nelson Steve Earle |
| Music by | Jonathan McHugh |
| Cinematography | Lee Daniel |
| Editing by | Karen Skloss Don Howard |
| Distributed by | Palm Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 13, 2004 (Canada,: Toronto Film Festival) April 3, 2005 (US: Wisconsin Film Festival) December 2, 2005 (US: limited) |
| Running time | 100 mins |
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
Be Here To Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt is a 2004 film directed by Margaret Brown that chronicles the fascinating and often turbulent life of American singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The film combines interviews Van Zandt's immediate family and contemporaries such as Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and Guy Clark with rare footage of Van Zandt at home and in performance.[1]
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[edit] Plot
As a musician and songwriter, Townes Van Zandt was legendary, inspiring many artists. In the years since his death in 1997 he has become widely regarded as one of the greatest American songwtiters of his generation.
[edit] Release
Be Here to Love Me was first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in Toronto, Canada on September 13, 2004. It first showed in the United States at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 3, 2005. It was released to a limited run of theaters in the US beginning on December 2, 2005.[2] The film was released on DVD by Palm Pictures on March 14, 2006.[3]
[edit] Reviews
The film maintains a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] The New York Times said, "Margaret Brown has directed a tender, impressionistic film biography about the Texan singer-songwriter," and The Village Voice called it "loving but frank."[5] Intriguingly, the director conspicuously excluded almost all of Townes Van Zandt's time spent in Houston, TX, which accounted for where he began his musical development, met and developed many of his early influences and life long friends (i.e. Lightnin' Hopkins, Guy Clarke, Steve Earle, Micky Newbury), and honed his musical skills in the city's folk and country scene in the late 60s and early 70s. Also absent was that many of his best live recordings which came out of Houston, too.
