Kirsten Johnson

Dick Johnson Is Dead

Dick Johnson Is Dead

This playful, profound, and immensely moving docu-fantasia by Kirsten Johnson is a valentine to the director’s beloved father, Dick Johnson, made as she is beginning to face the reality of losing him to dementia. Using the language of cinema both to defy death and to confront it head-on, Johnson mischievously envisions an array of ways in which the man she loves most in the world might die, staging a series of alternately darkly comic and colorfully imaginative tableaux interwoven with raw vérité footage capturing the pair’s tender but increasingly fragile bond. Tackling taboo questions of aging, mortality, and grief with subversive humor and surprising grace, Dick Johnson Is Dead is ultimately a triumphant celebration of life, and of the gentle, funny, unforgettable man at its center. Long live Dick Johnson.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 2020
  • 89 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  • Spine #1111

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital master, approved by director Kirsten Johnson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary featuring Johnson, cowriter and editor Nels Bangerter, and documentary sound recordist Judy Karp
  • New conversation among Johnson and her fellow producers Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness and coproducer Maureen A. Ryan
  • New interview with sound designer Pete Horner
  • New program featuring Johnson in conversation with Bangerter and filmmakers Mike Mills, Michael Moore, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Laura Poitras
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • English descriptive audio
  • PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer

    New cover photograph by Chris Buck

Purchase Options

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 2K digital master, approved by director Kirsten Johnson, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New audio commentary featuring Johnson, cowriter and editor Nels Bangerter, and documentary sound recordist Judy Karp
  • New conversation among Johnson and her fellow producers Katy Chevigny and Marilyn Ness and coproducer Maureen A. Ryan
  • New interview with sound designer Pete Horner
  • New program featuring Johnson in conversation with Bangerter and filmmakers Mike Mills, Michael Moore, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Laura Poitras
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • English descriptive audio
  • PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer

    New cover photograph by Chris Buck
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Cast
Dick Johnson
Kirsten Johnson
Isla Sierck
Jed Sierck
Felix Torres
Viva Torres
Raymond Damazo
Michael Hilow
Michael Melton
Joanne Reiner Tucker
Ken Tucker
Laurie McEwan
Lyn Schildwachter
Julie Tilton
Ira Sachs
Boris Torres
Dr. Joyce Fogel
Lolita Hirst
Kirk Johnson
Marta Bida
Simona Vuletic
Chase DeForest
Catherine Joy Johnson
Brett Eidman
Dick Johnson double
Michael Fatica
Dick Johnson dancer
Mary Page Nance
Katie Jo dancer
Fredi Bernstein
Katie Jo double
Ana Hoffman
Singers
Vasthy Mompoint
Nicole Tio
Adi Gonzalez
Frida Kahlo
Dexter Buell
Sigmund Freud
Kevin Loreque
Buster Keaton
Morgan Green
Billie Holiday
Ahsan Ali
Jesus/Bruce Lee
Samantha Everette Clowes
Farrah Fawcett
Credits
Director
Kirsten Johnson
Filmed by
Kirsten Johnson
Produced by
Kirsten Johnson
Producers
Katy Chevigny
Marilyn Ness
Coproducer
Maureen A. Ryan
Executive producers
Megan Ellison
Editor
Nels Bangerter
Music supervisor
Doug Bernheim
Music by
SYZYGYS
Sound recordist
Judy Karp
Written by
Nels Bangerter
Kirsten Johnson
Writing consultant
Logan Hill
Associate producer
Simon Mendes
Production coordinator
Joshua Ryan Troxler
Production managers
Sarah Seulki Oh
Nikki Sherritt-Lewis
Director of photography
John Wakayama Carey
Additional cinematographers
Nadia Hallgren
Andre Lambertson
Martina Radwan
John Russell Foster
Rick Siegel
Phantom operators
John Benam
Nick Midwig
Sound recordists
Mike O’Brien
Sean O'Neil
Mark Roy
Merce Williams
Kelsey Wood
Assistant directors
Kate Branom
Michael Toscano
Postproduction supervisor
Jean Lane
Assistant editor
Arielle Davis
Sound designer/Rerecording mixer
Pete Horner
Sound-effects editor
Joel Raabe
Supervising colorist
Seth Ricart
Art directors
Jane Ji
John Lavin
Production designers
Nathan Hong Fisher
Markus Kirschner
Costume designer
William Mellette
Choreographer
Adam Fleming
Script supervisor
Stephanie Serra
Hair and makeup
Akemi Hart
Tara Carrara
Dawn Tunnell
Special-effects makeup
Krystle Feher
Stunt consultant
Kemp Curley
Stunt coordinators
Michael Hilow
Tracey Ruggierio
Stunt performers
Chad Knorr
Zack Roberts

Current

Dick Johnson Is Dead: Falling Angels
Dick Johnson Is Dead: Falling Angels

By repeatedly staging the death of the filmmaker’s father with tragicomic flair, Kirsten Johnson’s hybrid documentary grapples with the realities of dementia and finds grace.

By So Mayer

Chris Buck Brings His Off-Kilter Portraiture Style to Dick Johnson Is Dead

Studio Visits

Chris Buck Brings His Off-Kilter Portraiture Style to Dick Johnson Is Dead

The veteran photographer’s gently surreal and comical sensibility drives the artwork of our edition of Kirsten Johnson’s documentary.