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

Director:

Margaret Brown

Release Date:

22 December 2005 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Tagline:

What would you sacrifice to follow your dream?

Plot Keywords:

Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship | Folk Music | Record Player | Family Relationships | Neurotic

Cast

Townes van Zandt	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joe Ely	...	Himself
Guy Clark	...	Himself
Willie Nelson	...	Himself
Kris Kristofferson	...	Himself
Donna Spence	...	Herself
Ann Rice	...	Herself
Luke Sharpe	...	Himself
John Ruehl	...	Himself
Bob 'Maverick' Myrick	...	Himself
Frank 'Chito' Greer	...	Himself
Fran Lohr	...	Herself
Jerry Jeff Walker	...	Himself
Kevin Eggers	...	Himself
Wrecks Bell	...	Himself
David Olney	...	Himself
J.T. Van Zandt	...	Himself
Steve Earle	...	Himself
Susanna Clark	...	Herself
Peggy Underwood	...	Herself
Leland Waddell	...	Himself
Cindy Van Zandt Lindgram	...	Herself
Katie Belle Van Zandt	...	Herself
Mickey White	...	Himself
John Lomax III	...	Himself
Harold Eggers	...	Himself
Will Van Zandt	...	Himself
Jeanene Van Zandt	...	Herself
Dylan Ferrero	...	Himself
Kinky Friedman	...	Himself
Emmylou Harris	...	Herself
Bob Moore	...	Himself
Steve Shelley	...	Himself
Tim Foljahn	...	Himself
Larry Monroe	...	Himself
Lyle Lovett	...	Himself
William Hedgepeth	...	Himself (archive sound)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lightnin Hopkins	...	Himself (archive footage) (as Lightnin' Hopkins)

Directed by
Margaret Brown

Produced by
Louis Black	....	executive producer
Margaret Brown	....	producer
Sam Brumbaugh	....	producer
Lisa Cohen	....	producer: imaging
Jannat Gargi	....	producer: imaging
K. Lynn Martin	....	associate producer (as Lynn Martin)
Chris Mattsson	....	executive producer
Ellen Naegeli	....	associate producer
Lecia Rosenthal	....	associate producer
Amy Shatsky-Gambrill	....	associate producer (as Amy Shatsky)
Paul Stekler	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Lee Daniel

Film Editing by
Don Howard
Karen Skloss
Michael Taylor

Production Management
Alka Bhanot	....	post-production supervisor
Dawn Cooper	....	production manager
David Fabelo	....	post-production supervisor
Jeff Nichols	....	production manager

Sound Department
Ethan Andrus	....	location sound
Wayne Bell	....	location sound
Tom Hammond	....	sound re-recording mixer
Alex Herrera	....	location sound
Bob Kellough	....	sound editor
Dennis Meehan	....	location sound
Thomas Morrison	....	location sound
Mike Swanner	....	location sound
Buckner Cooke	....	sound mixer (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Lee Daniel	....	optical printer

Camera and Electrical Department
Frazer Bradshaw	....	additional cinematographer
Sam Henriques	....	additional camerawork
David Layton	....	additional camerawork
David Layton	....	assistant camera
David McGrath	....	assistant camera
P.K. Munson	....	assistant camera
Jen White	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Angie Alvarez	....	post-production coordinator (as Angela Alvarez)
Chris Blankenship	....	on-line editor
David Fabelo	....	assistant editor
Julian Londoño	....	second assistant editor (as Julian Londono)
Joe Malina	....	colorist
Bill Scott	....	senior color timer
Nick Smith	....	assistant on-line editor
Trae Stanley	....	assistant colorist

Music Department
Jonathan McHugh	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Jessica Berman Bogdan	....	clearance (as Jessica Berman-Bogden)
Joe Blink	....	intern
Amanda Bolles	....	production assistant
Christine Castano	....	intern
Ted Chase	....	production assistant
Lee Cohen	....	production assistant
Richard Cornelisse	....	intern
Sean William Cunningham	....	transcriber (as Sean Cunningham)
Jane Derryberry	....	production assistant
Paul Dumas	....	intern
Marc English	....	title designer
Vicki Faust	....	accountant
Mike Fellows	....	production assistant
Caroline Frick	....	archival researcher
Elizabeth Gaden	....	intern
Robert Garza	....	intern
Jay Hodges	....	intern
Christina Jarrous	....	intern
Julian Londoño	....	production assistant (as Julian Londono)
Melissa Mercer	....	intern
Melissa Mercer	....	production assistant
Sarah Munoz	....	production assistant
Steven Schechter	....	production counsel
George Sledge	....	production coordinator
Nick Smith	....	title designer
Francis Stafford	....	intern
Marcella Steingart	....	archival researcher
James Taylor	....	intern
Edward Tuddenham	....	production counsel
Jay Van Hoy	....	production coordinator
Deborah Wiley	....	accountant (as Deb Wiley)
Sian-Zee Wong	....	office manager
Diane Zilliox	....	intern
Tai-San Choo	....	office intern (uncredited)
Jason Perrine	....	office intern (uncredited)

Thanks
Michael Almereyda	....	thanks
Robert Bingham	....	in memory of
Johnny Guess	....	in memory of
Richard King	....	in memory of
Barbara Kopple	....	thanks
Traci Kristofferson	....	thanks
Richard Linklater	....	special thanks
Fran Lohr	....	special thanks
Mickey Newbury	....	in memory of
Chloë Sevigny	....	thanks
Peggy Underwood	....	in memory of
Jeanene Van Zandt	....	special thanks
J.T. Van Zandt	....	special thanks
Katie Belle Van Zandt	....	special thanks
Cindy Van Zandt Lindgram	....	special thanks
Will Van Zandt	....	special thanks
Jerry Jeff Walker	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Rake Films

Distributors

• Look Now! (2006) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• MFA Filmdistribution (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Palm Pictures (2005) (USA) (theatrical)
• Look Now! (2007) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Alphacine Laboratory Services  tape to film transfer (as AlphaCine)
• Austin Film Society  fiscal sponsor
• Cinetic Media  distribution advisory services
• Matchframe Digital Intermediate  production services (as Matchframe)
• Soundcrafter  sound re-recording

Runtime:

99 min | Argentina:99 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Rake Films

Movie Connections:

Features Heartworn Highways (1981)

Soundtrack:

High, Low and In Between

To live is to die

"Well, many of my songs, they aren't sad, they're hopeless." - Townes Van Zandt.

"I don't envision a very long life for myself. I think my life will run out before my work does, you know? I've designed it that way." - Townes Van Zandt.

An amazing talent, with a bent for self-destruction, Townes was a unique and singular voice. This film reuses much footage from "Heartworn Highways", an arty documentary made in the 70s. It conveys the pain and self destructiveness that plagued Van Zandt and reveals that he was a manic depressive and alcoholic, facts which would not surprise anyone who listened to his work.

The film focuses on the period between the late 70s and late 80s when Townes went into hiding. After producing a record called "7 Come 11" he literally vanished, refusing to release his music until 20 years later.

The film is peppered with interviews with producers and song writers, many touting him as one of the greatest singer/poets since Dylan, who sadly, because of his suicidal tendencies, never achieved the superstar status he deserved.

Townes inexplicable failure to promote himself and his music baffled the industry and pretty soon he began a downward spiral, creatively and personally. He'd play Russian roulette with a .357 Magnum, often talk about suicide, inexplicably avoid his family, stay up nights drinking and spent years locked away in a log cabin, away from the world.

It seems that these "lost years" contributed to Van Zandt's decline, although one gets the sense that Townes didn't know what he was looking for or what he really wanted to achieve. He was an intelligent man, but his pain was just too much to warrant living. When questioned in an interview about what his goals were, it seems Townes had never thought about it (or didn't have any), and he struggles with the question until answering with a smile, "I would like to write a song that no one understands, including myself."

It's a playful comment, until you see the look in his eyes and realise what he means. He'd like no one to understand or identify with the pain of his music, because sadly, to understand is to suffer too.

As the film nears it's end, the shocking transformation of Van Zandt into a skeletal alcoholic is particularly disturbing. His cheek bones protrude like shards of broken pottery, his guitar skills deteriorating and his voice becoming torn and melancholy.

Van Zandt's music has been called folk and country, but on its deepest level it relates most comfortably to the blues. Over the past two years there's been a tremendous revival of interest in roots music. People initially turned to this music as a kind of protest against the childishness and soullessness of commercial, popular music. Then, after September 11th, roots music came to be associated with "Americana". A kind of cultural patriotism.

A couple years later and scepticism and anger raises it's ugly head. "Americana" was suddenly bad, and the old vanguard of roots music, those angry anti establishment folk guys like Dylan (or the original punk rockers like The Ramones) are suddenly popular again.

Zandt never had a revival. Aside from the Coen brothers using his song in "Lebowski" and paying homages in "O brother where art thou?", he's still relatively unheralded and unheard of. Like Van Gogh, he seems a tortured artist doomed to slow appreciation. One of those masters who, though hugely influential, remains remembered by only those in the industry. But at his best, Van Zandt is songwriter who could rival anyone. There is nothing cute, celebratory or charmingly old-timey about him. Far from reassuring, his songs are as unsettling as they come. And as one producer says in this documentary, "if you're serious about American music, eventually you're going to have to enter this darkness."

8/10- Great artists are sensitive people, permanently attuned to the world. Townes Van Zandt lived a tortured life, his music reaching depths few writers are able to plunge. I'm not a huge fan of country music or blues or even Townes, but even I found this documentary to be quietly adventurous, visually poetic and emotionally devastating. "Be here to love me" is a sad meditation on the darkness and beauty of Van Zandt's life and the collateral damage such a life can have on those who live it with you.