Bright Leaves

Documentary, Comedy, Drama · 2004Not Rated

This film describes a journey taken across the social, economic, and pyschological tobacco terrain of North Carolina by a native Carolian, whose great-grandfather created the famous tobacco known as "Bull Durham". "Bright Leaves" is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. It's about loss and preservation, addiction and denial. And it's also about filmmaking - home movies, documentary, and fiction filmmaking - as the filmmaker fences with the legacy of an obscure Hollywood melodrama that is purportedly based on his great-grandfather's life. Bright Leaves explores the notion of legacy - what one generation passes down to the next - and how this can be a particularly complicated topic when the legacy under discussion is a Southern one and is tied to tobacco.

Starring

Ross McElwee, Ross McElwee, Ross McElwee, Adrian McElwee, Ross McElwee, Brian Baucom, Patricia Neal, Susan Bennett, Ross McElwee, Richard Bock, Ed Bivens

Director

Ross McElwee

Producer

Ross McElwee