'Dick Johnson Is Dead' A Review

Dick Johnson Is Dead is a documentary from cinematographer turned director Kristen Johnson, her second feature after her stunning 2016 debut Cameraperson. The film follows Kristen as she comes to grips with her aging father's mortality, using his as both a documentary subject and as the star in abstract sequences and fictitious enactments of his impending death.

The film is difficult to describe, a meditation on death, a celebration of life and family, perhaps part therapy part transcendental exploration. As with Johnson's previous work it's stunning and original and full of incredible empathy and feeling. Unflinching but also incredibly compassionate. Small moments of Johnson interacting with her father, who is gradually succumbing to dementia but whose sense of humor is unwavering, as they pack up his office and prepare to move him cross country to live with her are juxtaposed with the making of various vignettes of Dick's accidental deaths, dealing with crew and stuntman with a sequence set in heaven. It's incredibly ambitious, at times bizarre even baroque, but what comes through is the incredible power of life and love, the inevitability of death, and leaves you to question what we do with the time we have.

There are many sequences to highlight but part of the pleasure is in it's surprises, it's joys, it's heartbreaks. In it's understated tone and steady pace it reaches the sublime.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't Miss It.