Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Dick Johnson Is Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 17, 2022

They say that old age ain't for sissies, and for a sterling example of the grit and determination it takes to get to your late eighties, there's probably going to be no finer documentary to watch than Dick Johnson is Dead. This kind of audaciously provocative piece by Johnson's daughter Kirsten (who also made the appealing Cameraperson) is a love letter to her father, albeit one suffused with a rather dark sense of humor, as evidenced by the film's very title. At least as of the release date (and evidently still as of the writing of this review, if my Googling skills are competent), Dick Johnson is still very much alive, though his mind has been ravaged by the effects of Alzheimer's, tragically a disease which also afflicted his wife, Kirsten's mother (who also shows up here in a couple of devastating archival videos).

In the commentary track included on this disc as a supplement, Kirsten Johnson repeatedly laments that she was trying to do too much throughout the production of this almost shocking blend of documentary and whimsical near magical realism, and that may account for any number of lapses in technical finesse, like framings, focus pulling and the like. But as the commentary also gets into, that multitasking also led to little moments of serendipity during the shoot, as in the kind of scary opening scene where Dick, playing with Kirsten's kids, takes a spill in a barn. It's just one indication that no matter how hearty he seems, Dick is getting up there in years and is neither physically nor mentally as vigorous as he may initially seem.

Kirsten Johnson's sense of humor becomes evident quite quickly after that introduction of her father when her camera then shows an air conditioner being dropped out of an upper floor apartment window onto his head, supposedly killing him, in just the first of a series of vignettes that offer various scenarios of Dick Johnson's demise. What exactly is this, some may well be asking, and if there's really no clear answer given in the documentary, it may not actually matter, since Dick Johnson is Dead is in a very real sense Kirsten Johnson's "living memorial" to the Dad she both remembers and is having to help navigate through the ravages of a maddening disease.

Now there are moments in Dick Johnson is Dead that would seem to be almost deliberately cruel to a dignified elder like Dick, a man who was a noted Seattle psychiatrist, as is almost amazingly documented in some on the fly footage of him interacting with a couple of people in his former office, where he kind of slips back into counselor mode. This includes a really unsettling if effective scene of a befuddled Dick on Halloween, though that's not the only potentially troubling footage (a heartbreaking moment where Dick becomes aware he'll never drive again is another). Some other perhaps "intimate" information, like a birth defect Dick was born with which was also an emotional hurdle for him to overcome, as well as some background information on Dick's wife, may almost be too personal at times. And the documentary's in your face "meta" aspect may put off some, though I personally found it absolutely amazing in its own peculiar and unabashedly self referential way.

If Dick Johnson is Dead will forever remain as a completely unique homage to a parent, it probably ends up asking questions it never even tries to answer, at least in terms of how "appropriate" it might be to even attempt something like this. But I'd argue that very provocative aspect is what gives Dick Johnson is Dead its visceral impact.

Dick Johnson Is Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dick Johnson is Dead is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (mostly) in 1.78:1 (as can be seen in screenshot 16, some archival video is 1.33:1). The leaflet foldout included with this release contains the following information on the master:

Dick Johnson in Dead is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The film was shot on Canon EOS C300, Panasonic AU_EVA1, Panasonic AG-DVX1000, Panasonic VariCam, and Phantom Flex4K cameras and completed in a fully digital workflow. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original digital audio master files.

With that variety of cameras listed above, as well as a number of varying degrees of production finesse (more about that in a moment), there is understandably a heterogeneous appearance here. The most lustrous sequences are the slow motion "Heaven" moments, where the palette is lush and fine detail is excellent, not necessarily due only to extreme close-ups. As Johnson gets into in some of the commentary, her being her own camera operator was not always arguably in her best interests, and so there are some kind of weird moments, as in one scene where she just leaves the camera at floor level, with Dick's shoe askew at an angle. Some of the interior scenes in particular with Dick in what I'm assuming was the longtime Johnson home in Seattle are on the murky and even occasionally noisy side.

Dick Johnson Is Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is gotten into in one of the best supplements on this disc, Dick Johnson is Dead has a surprisingly involved sound design, and that depth and multilayered aspect is given excellent support on the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. While there isn't amazingly wide sound imaging in some of the on the fly, more "traditional" documentary aspects, some of the more produced moments, especially the "Heaven" sequences have nicely designed audio that beautifully fills the side and rear channels. But also playing into things is some intentional but nicely subliminal quasi- hallucinogenic moments that seek to elucidate what Dick may be experiencing as his mental faculties decline. Dialogue and voiceover are always rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Dick Johnson Is Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features Kirsten Johnson, co-writer and editor Nels Bangerter and sound recordist Judy Karp. Johnson understandably takes the lead for a lot of this, but there's some interesting background information on why, for example, they opted for slow motion footage featuring Dick.


• Producing Dick Johnson is Dead (HD; 27:44) is a roundtable featuring Kirsten Johnson and producers Katy Chevigny (who appears via teleconferencing), Marilyn Ness and Maureen A. Ryan.


• Sound Design by Pete Horner (HD; 25:57) is a really fascinating look at this piece's perhaps unexpectedly multilayered sound design.


• In Conversation (HD; 19:45) features Zoom calls made in 2020 for promotional purposes with Kirsten Johnson and a number of other notables like Michael Moore.


• Trailer (HD; 1:50)

Criterion also includes a foldout leaflet in the place of an insert booklet. There's an interesting essay by So Mayer along with the typical production info and transfer verbiage.

Dick Johnson Is Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I've often remarked in my reviews how particular films that arrive in my queue seem weirdly connected to what is going on in my "real" life, and vis a vis that continuing synchronicity, my wife's 94 year old father just died a couple of weeks ago as this review is being written. I've joked for years that my parents had the good sense to just drop, but my wife's father suffered a debilitating stroke when he was already in his late eighties, a stroke that a doctor said really should have killed him, but my father-in-law showed the same kind of Johnsonian grit and determination for several years after that, even with severely limited mobility and speech. His decline was slow but steady, ending in hospice care, but spending time with my father-in-law in hospice, a situation I had frankly never experienced before, kind of brought me "up close and personal" to death in a way that I had never been before, and it was a bracing and emotional experience. For those wanting to maybe tip their veritable toe into these obviously very deep waters of what it means to deal with the mortality of a parent, Dick Johnson is Dead might be a good way to start. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements well done. While Kirsten Johnson's sense of humor about everything (one that is shared by Dick, lest there be any question where it comes from) may shock some viewers, I frankly think this could be a really therapeutic film for those faced with either the imminent or recent demise of their parents. Highly recommended.