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

Although singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt is claimed by Texas, he spent two years in Minnesota at the Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, where he is remembered as the kid who dropped cherry bombs down the dormitory toilets. Elsewhere, he is noted as the dazzling guitar player who wrote the Willie Nelson hit “Pancho & Lefty,” who inspired Bob Dylan plus a generation of his fellow Texans to become songwriters, and who died without achieving the fame many believe he deserves. Here’s a documentary that attempts to put things right. It follows Van Zandt through both inspiration and self-destruction, blending concert footage with interviews with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and others who say without Van Zandt, they simply would not sound like they do. 10 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-627-4430; www.mnfilmarts.org/bell