Critic Reviews

• Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

  There's also a rather awesome and unpretentious directness as well as calmness about the way that Huston contemplates his own rapidly approaching death.

• Variety Staff, Variety

  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.

• Dave Calhoun, Time Out

  A beguiling chamber piece.

• Vincent Canby, New York Times

  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.

• Desson Thomson, Washington Post

  There's a certain disarming sweetness to the film. The scenes are lit in amber warmth and Joyce's Dublin fable of lost hopes and living memories is treated with respect. But the acting pool is only adequate.

• Hal Hinson, Washington Post

  The movie was Huston's last and it's a great culminating work. As such, it couldn't be more perfect.

• Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

  A personal film for John Huston, starring daughter Anjelica and adapted to the screen by son Tony, this very last work evokes beautifully the mood and texture of James Joyce's lyrical story.

• Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online

  ... a small masterpiece, a film of exquisite grace and understated power.

• Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com

  ... a perfect cinematic short story attuned to the rituals and touchy relationships of family and friends gathering in early twentieth century Dublin...

• Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com

  a finely polished jewel and a wonderful way to remember a great director.

• Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine

  Though it does the heart good to see John Huston's uneven swan song on DVD, The Dead deserves better than this cheap-as-Lucky Charms package.

• Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine

  What redeems Huston's last gasp is the observational framing and agile editing with which the Morkan sisters' soiree is captured.

• Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

  One of cinema's best literary adaptations.

• Jamie Russell, BBC

  [A] deeply reverent, deeply affecting adaptation.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  Entirely filmed in a Californian warehouse, The Dead features the greatest Irish cast ever assembled on screen.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  Fine performances from everyone, and a self-effacing, enigmatic star turn from Anjelica Huston herself.

• Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

  A true labor of love -- a masterpiece, and perhaps the crowning achievement of a long, varied and highly celebrated career.

• Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal

  A haunting farewell for father John Huston, a powerhouse acting turn from daughter Anjelica.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  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.

Read all 19 critic reviews