Dick Johnson Is Dead
A filmmaker turns her father’s imagined deaths into a playful, heartbreaking cinematic ritual for confronting mortality and preserving love.
Overview
A poignant exploration of love and loss as a daughter confronts the inevitable with her father.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- bittersweet
- darkly humorous
- playful
- reflective evening
- family discussion
What critics said
Critics broadly acclaimed the film as an inventive, funny, and deeply resonant meditation on mortality, family love, and the filmmaking process.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Kirsten repeatedly directs elaborate fictional death scenes for her father, showing the sets, doubles, and filmmaking process.
Richard Johnson playacts multiple deaths while the film balances comic spectacle with the daughter's anxiety over his decline.
Kirsten uses filmmaking as a way to share final moments with her father and confront the prospect of losing him.
Death recreations abruptly expose the film set, stunt doubles, directing, and artificiality behind each scene.
Films like Dick Johnson Is Dead, and why
Stories We Tell
intimate family documentary using inventive formal strategies to explore memory, aging, and mortality
Time Is Illmatic
deeply personal documentary portrait balancing grief, family bonds, and observational realism
The Mole Agent
bittersweet, emotionally direct documentary meditation on death, caregiving, and familial love
Cameraperson
experimental nonfiction filmmaking transforms painful personal experience into playful, poignant cinema
Movie Details
- Director
- Kirsten Johnson
- Release Date
- 2020-01-23
- Runtime
- 89 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (149)
Cast
- Richard Johnson
- Kirsten Johnson
- Isla Sierck
- Jed Sierck
- Felix Torres
- Viva Torres
- Raymond Damazo
- Michael Hilow
- Michael Melton
- Joanne Reiner Tucker
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Dick Johnson Is Dead about?
- A filmmaker turns her father’s imagined deaths into a playful, heartbreaking cinematic ritual for confronting mortality and preserving love.
- What is Dick Johnson Is Dead like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Dick Johnson Is Dead as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Dick Johnson Is Dead violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Dick Johnson Is Dead as mild.
- What did critics think of Dick Johnson Is Dead?
- Critics broadly acclaimed the film as an inventive, funny, and deeply resonant meditation on mortality, family love, and the filmmaking process.
- Which films are like Dick Johnson Is Dead?
- Films with a similar feel include Stories We Tell, Time Is Illmatic, The Mole Agent, and Cameraperson.
- How long is Dick Johnson Is Dead?
- Dick Johnson Is Dead runs 89 minutes.
- Where can I watch Dick Johnson Is Dead?
- In United States, Dick Johnson Is Dead streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
