Friday, December 22 | 5:30 pm
John Huston’s (The Maltese Falcon) final masterpiece, The Dead, is an austere and luminous adaptation of James Joyce’s eponymous short story—often called the finest in the English language. In turn-of-the-century Dublin, Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta attend dinner at the home of his two maiden aunts in celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany—the last of the twelve days of Christmas. After a night of food, music, and reminiscence, Gretta recalls a tragic memory that prompts Gabriel toward a personal epiphany about love’s capacity to endure beyond death. Collaborating with his son, Tony, who wrote the film’s Oscar-nominated screenplay, and daughter Angelica, who played the role of Gretta, John Huston directed The Dead from a wheelchair, completing it shortly before his own passing. A joyous celebration of family tradition and a moving meditation on mortality, The Dead is a worthy and illuminating companion to its esteemed literary predecessor.
Director John Huston | 1987 | In English | 83 minutes | PG | 35mm