Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (I briefly blogged about it; Geoff Pevere reviewed it today in the Star and gave it three stars; the Globe's Liam Lacey gave it 2.5; Evan Davies gave it three in Now; I'd give it three) is one possibility. It screens at the Paramount downtown and some suburban multiplexes. Now also has a Q-and-A with filmmaker Sam Dunn, who is also profiled in the Globe.
At the Bloor tonight at 9:30 p.m. is Be Here to Love Me, about the lauded, troubled Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt, whose gift with words and sound made him legendary amongst his peers, but didn't translate into popular acclaim for him.
Here's a sample of the lyrics from Pancho and Lefty, written by Van Zandt and turned into a hit by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard:
Livin' on the road, my friend,
Was gonna keep you
Free and clean
But now you wear
Your skin like iron
And your breath's as hard
As keroseneWeren't your momma's only boy
But her favourite one, it seems
She began to cry
As you said ... goodbye
Sang into your dreams
Actually, if you listen to a CD called Live at the Bluebird Cafe, you'll hear one of the worst versions of Pancho and Lefty ever recorded. The singer? Townes Van Zandt! However, Townes also tells some hilarious stories that make up for it.
A few weeks ago, I saw Joe Ely, one of Van Zandt's contemporaries, at the Horseshoe Tavern. He told a story about picking up a hitchhiking Van Zandt (then a stranger) on the outskirts of Lubbock, Texas in the 1970s. Van Zandt had nothing with him except a guitar and copies of his first record, one of which he gave to Ely. "I listened to that record every day for weeks," Ely said.
I saw an ad for Tsotsi, which won the People's Choice Award at TIFF (no critic had touted it in pre-festival writings and reviews), but while it's not in theatres yet, it's coming soon. The film is being released in the U.S. today. This film is up for a best-foreign language film at the Oscars in two weeks.
A film that got good buzz earlier is The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the directorial debut of Tommy Lee Jones. Peter Howell gave it 3.5 stars in his review for the Star. John Harkness gave it four stars in Now. Rick Groen gave it three stars in the Globe.