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The Dead (1988)
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Synopsis: In this adaptation of the James Joyce short story, which takes place at an annual New Years Eve party in Dublin in 1904, Gretta Conroy, after hearing an old and sad ballad sung by one of the guests, confesses to her husband Gabriel of a long ago love affair she still remembers. This revelation... In this adaptation of the James Joyce short story, which takes place at an annual New Years Eve party in Dublin in 1904, Gretta Conroy, after hearing an old and sad ballad sung by one of the guests, confesses to her husband Gabriel of a long ago love affair she still remembers. This revelation causes Gabriel to question matters of life and death... and moves him to lament the lack of such passion in his own life. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Marie Kean, Donal Donnelly
Reviews
Entirely filmed in a Californian warehouse, The Dead features the greatest Irish cast ever assembled on screen.
Fine performances from everyone, and a self-effacing, enigmatic star turn from Anjelica Huston herself.
There's also a rather awesome and unpretentious directness as well as calmness about the way that Huston contemplates his own rapidly approaching death.
A well-crafted miniature, this dramatization of the Joyce story directly addresses the theme of how the 'shades' from 'that other world' can still live in those who still walk the earth.
A true labor of love -- a masterpiece, and perhaps the crowning achievement of a long, varied and highly celebrated career.
A haunting farewell for father John Huston, a powerhouse acting turn from daughter Anjelica.
The Dead celebrates the beauty of the English language, the challenges of marital love and the intimations of mortality which can bring us back to an exaltation of life.
This sublime adaptation of the last story in James Joyce's Dubliners is John Huston's final film, and it is as beautiful, delicate, and moving an epitaph as any filmmaker could ever desire.
That Huston should have dared search for the story's cinema life is astonishing. That he should have found it with such seeming ease is the mark of a master.


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