This is a highly personal journey, reminiscent of a smart, sardonic personal essay you might find in Harper's magazine or a quirky, savvy radio piece on NPR's 'This American Life.'
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09/08/06
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Bright Leaves (2004)
86 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 57
Fresh: 49
Rotten:8
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Consensus: A rich, eccentric documentary about both filmmaking and the tobacco industry.
Theatrical Release: Aug 25, 2004 Limited
Synopsis: Ross McElwee directs this autobiographical documentary about his family's roots in the tobacco business in North Carolina. Taking a sabbatical from his home in Boston, he offers a culturally interesting history of the South as viewed... [More]
Director: Ross McElwee
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Reviews for Bright Leaves
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05/26/06
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02/09/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
02/07/06
Touches on serious matters with a sly, self-deprecating sense of humor that makes receiving its messages a pleasure rather than a chore.
05/02/05
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04/30/05
Top Critic
Ross McElwee ambles through one tobacco-related subject after another... it's too scattered all over the place to be truly informative.
04/29/05
Bright Leaves is not the kind of film that thetruth.com would use in its anti-smoking campaign.
04/28/05
Top Critic A meandering riff on the dangerous allure of smoking, and more interestingly a meditation on the way motion pictures can preserve our life experiences-- but only to a point.
03/05/05
Top Critic The filmmaker narrates with droll, front-porch wit, and eases his way into the viewer's heart by sharing a hefty portion of his own.
01/26/05
McElwee’s examination of tobacco culture shows concern but not condescension.
01/14/05
Top Critic Bright Leaves is a beguiling film. Watching it is like spending time with an old, somewhat chatty but endearing friend.
12/03/04
Top Critic Twin concerns of family and place collide perfectly in McElwee's first film in seven years.
12/03/04
It's a meandering visit by a curious man with a quiet sense of humor.
12/03/04
Top Critic McElwee's autobiographical films ... are leisurely jaunts with a gentle humor that never mocks his subjects.
12/02/04
Top Critic Ross McElwee's movies have the rhythms of a person who is writing -- considering this possibility, rejecting that one and ultimately making a decision.
12/02/04
Related Forums for Bright Leaves
BRIGHT LEAVES is a bittersweet docu for those in need of a 'Southern' transfusion?
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BRIGHT LEAVES is a bittersweet docu for those in need of a 'Southern' transfusion?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/20/05
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/20/05
BRIGHT LEAVES is a bittersweet docu for those in need of a 'Southern' transfusion?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/20/05
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/20/05
BRIGHT LEAVES is a bittersweet docu for those in need of a 'Southern' transfusion?
by: REEL_REVIEWER 11/20/05
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