Bright Leaves is a 2003 United States/United Kingdom documentary film by independent filmmaker Ross McElwee about the association his family had with the tobacco industry.
[1][4][5] Interviewed as part of this film include Allan Gurganus, Ross McElwee, Tom McElwee, Vlada Petrić, Paula Larke, Marilyn Levine, Emily Madison, Adrian McElwee, Charleen Swansea, and Patricia Neal, the leading lady of the 1950 feature film.
The documentary follows McElwee's usual style, where he gives voiceovers to apparently spontaneous footage, making the story more personal.
[5]In her essay "Reflections on Bright Leaves", collected in Three Documentary Filmmakers, Marian Keane asserts that Bright Leaves displays McElwee's extraordinary ability to present "people in their uniqueness".
She contrasts 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.