Bright Leaves

Film

Bright Leaf is the name of a strain of tobacco. It was also the name of a 1949 novel and 1950 feature film about a struggle between two tobacco barons. (Patricia Neal, one of the film's stars, is interviewed.)

The struggle depicted in the film, according to McElwee family tradition, parallels the historical one between McElwee's great-grandfather and the patriarch of the Duke family who founded Duke University.

Cast

Interviewed as part of this film include Allan Gurganus, Ross McElwee, Tom McElwee, Patricia Neal, Vlada Petric, Paula Larke, Marilyn Levine, Emily Madison, Adrian McElwee, and Charleen Swansea.

Reception

The documentary follows McElwee's usual style, where he gives voiceovers to apparently spontaneous footage, making the story more personal. According to Roger Ebert:

Marian Keane, in her essay "Reflections on Bright Leaves", collected in "Three Documentary Filmmakers", asserts that Bright Leaves displays McElwee's extraordinary ability to present "people in their uniqueness", contrasting this with other documentaries where people often "seem to exist in the world of film as if suspended from their relation to their actual lives."

Awards and nominations