Kirsten Johnson not only finds a way to pay tribute to her, still-alive, father, but gives us a much-needed, and uplifting, therapy session on death in her playfully irreverent documentary “Dick Johnson is Dead.” This delirious attempt from Johnson, director of the excellent 2018 doc Cameraperson,” to make sense of the fact that someday her 86-year-old father’s life will come to an end, is a way for us to also come to terms with the inevitable demise of those closest to us. Using the magic of cinema to act out the death of her father, in humorously-staged scenes, the filmmaker even has good ol’ pops entering his own open-casket ceremony, pretending to be dead. This one-of-a-kind doc is an attempt for Johnson to celebrate the life of a man who means so much to her— a recently retired, happy-go-lucky psychologist stymied by the slow and inevitable effects of dementia. This playfully observational film has the longtime cinematographer prehumously sending off a man she loves dearly. It sounds like a total bummer, it isn’t — despite the morbid subject matter, this creative, joyously infectious doc plays like a breath of fresh air. [B+]
“Dick Johnson” premieres via Netflix on October 2nd.
The film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in December 2028, timed to Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.