Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Niklas Pivic I'd not heard van Zandt before discovering this documentary. A lonely soul, in interview commenting on a statement that many of his songs are sad, saying "they're not all sad...some are hopeless", seemingly without irony.A slew of known musicians gather to comment on van Zandt's visions, his problems with alcohol and of how he has influenced people. At the same time, the filmmakers have told a straightforward tale of a man haunted.This documentary turned me on to van Zandt's music, and his legacy is apparently notable within the country and folk music fold. I'll recommend it not only for music fans. van Zandt came from a period in time where country and folk met with more modern ages, the 1950s merging into the 1960s, where alcohol met other drugs and lyrics changed.

Stavros_the_Sheep There is some great coverage of Townes Van Zandt, both interviewed and in performance, but the film fails to get under the skin of the man. His obsessively egotistical approach to his life, work and play (at the expense of his wives and children) is simply accepted for what it was and there is very little speculation as to whether it was Townes' background or something intrinsic in the make up of great musicians that made him thus. It might have been interesting to compare him to other singer-songwriters from similar backgrounds who have followed the same path (Woody Guthrie immediately springs to mind). What we have is some nice archival commentary and some rather fulsome comments from his friends, but you come away not feeling you know Townes any better than you did before.The most touching comment comes from his younger son, who chokes as he tells us that tuned into his fathers music, immediately turned his back on rap and found a new perspective on both his father and his own musical understanding. I almost expected him to say "I have put away childish things".One more niggle, but it is a complaint I have about the filming of guitar players generally - why do the directors never focus on the fingers? You get at most a couple of bars and then they cut away to a facial expression or to a mid-shot of the band. More guitar-playing directors needed I think.

haverslick If you aren't absolutely amazed by Townes' songwriting, finger picking, and singing, all you have to do is pick up a guitar to realize how difficult it is to do what he's doing. He's actually doing three or four things at once: Plucking a bass line with his thumb, a melody with his remaining fingers, and to top it all off, he sings absolutely hauntingly over this intricate accompaniment.When Kristofferson called Townes a "songwriter's songwriter," this is made even truer by the fact that most of his biggest fans are musicians, because of his dedication and the perfection he achieves in his songs. It is truly songwriting rocket science. After I discovered Townes, I hardly ever strummed my guitar anymore, but rather try to keep it mostly fingerstyle.Townes' greatness stemmed from what is the lifeblood of most all great musicians: persistence and dedication (and drugs), at least to his art, if not to the business side of things. Like he said; "You've got to lock yourself in your apartment, take the phone off the hook, and listen to Lightnin' Hopkins for two weeks."

Pithybrid I was lucky enough to view this film at the Toronto Film Festival. As a longtime, and pretty rabid Townes Van Zandt fan, I was very impressed with the film. Director Margaret Brown did a fantastic job. Her film showed the tragedy, humor and beauty that made up Townes. I had a chance to talk to her briefly after the screening, and you could tell that this was really a labor of love. The interviews in this seem like a who's who of singer/songwriter music, featuring Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Guy Clark and many more. Hopefully it will find some sort of distribution on DVD. It is the type of film that deserves to be seen. Anyone who considers themselves a music fan should take any opportunity they have to see this film.