Dead (The Criterion Collection) 01/26 Blu-ray (Rental)

The elegiac last film by John Huston finds the legendary director adapting a masterly short story by his favorite writer, James Joyce, into a poignant reflection on the totality of life. During a snowy winter in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Dublin, the members of an extended family convene for a night of wine, song, and celebration—but it’s not until after the festivities that Gretta (Anjelica Huston) reveals a secret to her husband (Donal McCann) that casts the entire evening in a new light. Aglow with a mix of nostalgia and melancholy, and featuring a cast of stellar Irish actors, The Dead gracefully evokes the passage of time and the haunting power of memory. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director of photography Fred Murphy, with 4.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack New interview with author Colum McCann on the James Joyce short story and its adaptation for the film New 2K restoration of John Huston and the Dubliners (1987), a behind-the-scenes documentary by Lilyan Sievernich Audio excerpts from actor Anjelica Huston’s 2014 memoir, Watch Me English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by author and film critic Michael Koresky and a 1987 piece by screenwriter Tony Huston about the making of the film