Bright Leaves

Starring:Allan Gurganus, Paula Larke, Patricia Neal, Vlada Petric, Charleen Swansea
Studio: First Run Features
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The South is in North Carolina native Ross McElwee's blood, and like his best-known film, Sherman's March, Bright Leaves benefits from what he calls "a transfusion of Southernness." This is McElwee's most accessible autobio-doc since the groundbreaking March put him on the map. His films have ruminated wryly and profoundly on matters of love, family, marriage, and parenthood. In Bright Leaves, an obsession with a 1950 melodrama funds him pondering his family's tobacco-stained history and legacy. The set-up is irresistible: A long-lost second cousin introduces McElwee to Bright Leaf, a film starring Gary Cooper as a tobacco farmer embroiled in a bitter rivalry with a tobacco baron, who destroys him. Is the film a dramatized account of his own great-grandfather's "rise and subsequent fall to ruin"? Turns out old John McElwee created the Bull Durham tobacco brand, only to have it stolen from him by the powerful Duke family, who are considered royalty in McElwee's home town. Visiting the Duke mansion, McElwee can't help but ponder, "If things had gone differently, this would have all been mine."

But Bright Leaf is merely a starting point. McElwee wrestles with his "guilt over the global tobacco addition" in which his ancestors played a role. He notes the irony that later descendants all became doctors, and treated those ravaged by smoking. McElwee interviews relatives about his great grandfather, as well as modern-day tobacco farmers, current smokers (one engaged couple cannot make good on their pledges to quit), and cancer patients (fans of McElwee's films will be delighted to be reunited with Charleen, McElwee's former teacher). McElwee is the anti-Michael Moore. He is a kinder, gentler interviewer, and not at all confrontational. He has no agenda. As for Bright Leaf, he does manage to interview actress Patricia Neal, who was in the film, and the widow of the film's screenwriter, who gives McElwee a definitive answer. Along the way, there are several "stranger than fiction incidents," such as a visit to a former McElwee tobacco warehouse that now serves as a beauty school, and an interview with film theorist Vlada Petric, who, instead of being filmed seated in a movie theatre, insists that McElwee shoot him while Petric pushes him around in a wheelchair rigged to facilitate a tracking shot. --Donald Liebenson
Description
McElwee family legend has it that the Hollywood melodrama "Bright Leaf" starring Gary Cooper as a 19th century tobacco grower, is based on filmmaker Ross McElwee's great-grandfather, who created the Bull Durham brand. Using this legacy as a jumping off point, McElwee reaches back to his roots in this wry, witty rumination on American history, the tobacco business, and the myth of cinema.

The Ross McElwee DVD Collection (Sherman's March / Time Indefinite / Six O'Clock News / Bright Leaves / Backyard / Charleen) (Five-Disc Collector's Edition)
Average customer rating:

The Gold Standard

Leaves defect?

Loses a star for an unfortunate FACTORY DEFECT

The Ross McElwee DVD Collection (Sherman's March / Time Indefinite / Six O'Clock News / Bright Leaves / Backyard / Charleen) (Five-Disc Collector's Edition)
Starring: Ross Mcelwee
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000B5XPK6
Release Date: 2005-11-22

Description

Six films on 5 discs,including 4 films never before released on DVD. PLUS: An hour of exlcusive bonus material. Ross McElwee usues his own life as a springboard to explore humankind's biggest issues and tiniest. Set includes CHARLEEN,BACKYARD,SHERMAN'S MARCH,BRIGHT LEAVES,TIME INDEFINITE,and SIX OCLOCK NEWS.Ross McElwee was recently honored with a retrospective of his film's at the MUSEUM OF MODERN ART this fall.

Customer Reviews:

The Gold Standard.......2006-01-25

Ross McElwee is the Gold Standard of personal film documentarians. His low tech approach (he's a one-man operation) allows him easy access to a scene that might otherwise be distracted or compromised by a crew. But what makes his films memorable is his kind-hearted, dead-pan wit.

This collection is a great film school for aspiring documentarians now that digital technology has made his method available to practically everyone. He shows how focusing on the mundane aspects of life add up, illuminating the profound.

BTW, to reviewer D.Hartley, all my disks, which I bought through Amazon.com, play with no problem.

Leaves defect?.......2005-12-17

I own the Bright Leaves disc (standalone) and did not experience any problems. If you're not up on Ross, definitely check out this box. He is one of a kind.

Loses a star for an unfortunate FACTORY DEFECT.......2005-12-08

This is a long-overdue DVD collection assembling the work of one of America's true hidden treasures, documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee. McElwee, a genteel Southern neurotic (think Woody Allen meets Tennessee Williams) has essentially been documenting his personal life since the mid 70's and managed to turn all those thousands of feet of footage into some of the most simultaneously original, hilarious, moving, thought-provoking and entertaining films that most people have never seen. Audiences weaned on the glut of "reality TV" of recent years may shrug thier shoulders and say "what's the big deal about one more schmuck making glorified home movies?" but they would be missing an enriching glimpse into the human condition. In addition to a couple of McElwee's more rarely screened early works- his debut "Backyard" and "Charleen", you get two bonifide classics about the eternal search for love and acceptance-"Sherman's March" and its unofficial "sequel", "Time Indefinite" plus his masterful meditation on the random cruelty of fate, "Six O'Clock News". NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS: First let me tell you that I own two DVD players-one is a standard Region 1, and the other an "all region". Here is what I have experienced with the film "Bright Leaves" (McElwee's most recent film included in the box). Straight and simple-IT DOES NOT PLAY. This is my conclusion after renting 2 (that is TWO) different copies of the "stand alone" release by this studio from my local video store. Neither one played past the FBI Warning (on EITHER of my 2 players). I also RENTED this boxed set as opposed to purchasing, because I was wary, and sure enough, the version of "Bright Leaves" included in the box set ALSO DOES NOT PLAY. I hope someone from the releasing studio reads this and addresses this obvious problem. It's keeping this eager consumer from investing in the box set, as much as I would love to own it. Have any other Amazon reviewers encountered this issue?

Average customer rating:

Interesting Documentary
Could've been a decent short
Another Great Film From McElwee

Bright Leaves
Starring: Allan Gurganus , Paula Larke , Patricia Neal , Vlada Petric , and Charleen Swansea
Manufacturer: First Run Features
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0008FXT6Y
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Amazon.com

The South is in North Carolina native Ross McElwee's blood, and like his best-known film, Sherman's March, Bright Leaves benefits from what he calls "a transfusion of Southernness." This is McElwee's most accessible autobio-doc since the groundbreaking March put him on the map. His films have ruminated wryly and profoundly on matters of love, family, marriage, and parenthood. In Bright Leaves, an obsession with a 1950 melodrama funds him pondering his family's tobacco-stained history and legacy. The set-up is irresistible: A long-lost second cousin introduces McElwee to Bright Leaf, a film starring Gary Cooper as a tobacco farmer embroiled in a bitter rivalry with a tobacco baron, who destroys him. Is the film a dramatized account of his own great-grandfather's "rise and subsequent fall to ruin"? Turns out old John McElwee created the Bull Durham tobacco brand, only to have it stolen from him by the powerful Duke family, who are considered royalty in McElwee's home town. Visiting the Duke mansion, McElwee can't help but ponder, "If things had gone differently, this would have all been mine."

But Bright Leaf is merely a starting point. McElwee wrestles with his "guilt over the global tobacco addition" in which his ancestors played a role. He notes the irony that later descendants all became doctors, and treated those ravaged by smoking. McElwee interviews relatives about his great grandfather, as well as modern-day tobacco farmers, current smokers (one engaged couple cannot make good on their pledges to quit), and cancer patients (fans of McElwee's films will be delighted to be reunited with Charleen, McElwee's former teacher). McElwee is the anti-Michael Moore. He is a kinder, gentler interviewer, and not at all confrontational. He has no agenda. As for Bright Leaf, he does manage to interview actress Patricia Neal, who was in the film, and the widow of the film's screenwriter, who gives McElwee a definitive answer. Along the way, there are several "stranger than fiction incidents," such as a visit to a former McElwee tobacco warehouse that now serves as a beauty school, and an interview with film theorist Vlada Petric, who, instead of being filmed seated in a movie theatre, insists that McElwee shoot him while Petric pushes him around in a wheelchair rigged to facilitate a tracking shot. --Donald Liebenson

Description

McElwee family legend has it that the Hollywood melodrama "Bright Leaf" starring Gary Cooper as a 19th century tobacco grower, is based on filmmaker Ross McElwee's great-grandfather, who created the Bull Durham brand. Using this legacy as a jumping off point, McElwee reaches back to his roots in this wry, witty rumination on American history, the tobacco business, and the myth of cinema.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Documentary .......2007-01-31

This is a wonderful documentary for those that like subjective and exploratory filmmaking. If you are looking for a point, or say a dummy's guide to attacking the tobacco industry or an expose, watch the nightly news. Bright Leaves is in the same vein as Stone Reader, in that both documentaries incorporate their filmmakers. While some may view this as narcissistic or unnecessary, more is revealed about human understanding and the implications of history than a selection of the facts.

Could've been a decent short.......2006-01-02

This movie's trailer was very interesting. It made the movie seem like a scathing attack on the tobacco industry and the unreflective local economies that are indifferent to the health effects of their cash crop. Instead of being packed with information like other recent documentaries of note like 'Wal-Mart' or Robert Greenwald's body of work, it's 105 minutes with about 90 minutes of padding.

The filmmaker is curious about his family's long lost tobacco empire. His family could have grown as big as the Duke family (of Duke Univ. fame), he says, except for unfair Duke competition that ended in his great grandfather's losing a lawsuit to the Duke patriarch a century ago. He and other members of his family still lament this turn of events, and continue to dream of a monstrous fortune they could have inherited.

The other main issue that he pursues is whether the Gary Cooper movie 'Bright Leaf' is about his great grandfather or about a different tobacco magnate. Eventually he tracks down ancestors of the book's author for an anticlimactic interview in which they tell him he's been barking up the wrong tree.

The lawsuit between the Dukes and his family and who the movie and book 'Bright Leaf' were based on are the two main issues of the film, right up to the end of the movie when he tours a Duke museum and sees reminders of his family's being ripped off by the Duke's in every exhibit. That he chose these two issues to fill a documentary may strike some as somewhat self-important or even self-indulgent. That would be fair. That the cover of the DVD shows a closeup of the filmmaker with his camera is consistent with how much this documentary is about himself and his own ambitions. He even rambles indiscriminately about his filmmaking, trying to defend (unconvincingly) why his shooting technique is so indiscriminate. He explains that much can be learned by just turning on the camera and seeing what it captures. This "technique" leads however to his either reading bizarre lengths into the smallest gesture of his interviewees or just filming... nothing, an empty parking lot even. Funny that he doesn't seem to notice the interviewees experiencing him as a tedious bore.

It's a long movie, and somehow he fills it up with melodramatic lamenting of what inheritance could have been his and other boorish monologues. Only when the movie gets edited down to a 3-minute trailer does it really show much promise. If he was a fictional character, and an editor was allowed to have at it, it would not be a half-bad 20-minute satire of southern culture and various moral failings. As is, it's little more than a home video about family history, and is bound to hold little interest beyond the family which it portrays.

Another Great Film From McElwee.......2005-06-23

Ross McElwee is one of the finest filmmakers working today. To call him a documentarian may give the wrong impression. His films are more personal essays on his life, and the people around him.

BRIGHT LEAVES is yet another essay of his. This one follows McElwee as he traces his family in North Carolina tobacco country. Upon seeing an old Gary Cooper film by the name of BRIGHT LEAF, which follows a tobacco farmer battling a larger one, he begins to wonder if the film was based on his great grandfather, who had a similar battle with the Duke tobacco family. This leads him to interview family, tobacco farmers, Patricia Neal (co-star of BRIGHT LEAF), and the wife of the author of the book the film was based on.

The only thing keeping my review from five stars is it isn't up to his earlier film TIME INDEFINITE, which I would name as probably one of the fifty greatest films ever made. If any other filmmaker had made this it would be in the five star range, but just in comparison to his other films, it isn't his best.

As for the DVD, while the transfer is very nice, there are very few extras. Just a few text screens, none of which add all that much to the film or justify the rather expensive price of the DVD.

But this is a must see for McElwee fans.

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