Pre-Order Criterion Press Release: Dick Johnson is Dead (2022) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

​

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 has begun 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 fellow filmmakers about redefining what a documentary can be
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• English descriptive audio
• PLUS: An essay by author So Mayer
  
  New cover by Chris Buck
  
  January 25, 2022

 

[Ronald Epstein]

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[titch]

Can't believe there is zero interest on this forum for this masterpiece - it has a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 90 critics!

Dick Johnson Is Dead

A filmmaker and her elderly father stage his death in various ways to help them face his inevitable demise.

www.rottentomatoes.com

I received both the 4k UHD of The Piano, as well as this blu-ray today and this is the one I'm going to see first. I saw Kirsten Johnson's previous documentary Cameraperson (also released by Criterion) last year and was very impressed by her talent. That film also featured her father, who is Dick Johnson. It's available on Netflix - but the blu-ray has a good selection of extras, which justify the purchase.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

This is a fantastic documentary. Kirsten Johnson not only imbues the subject with a lot of heart, it's downright hilarious at times.

 

[titch]

After watching this remarkable film again and noticing how much better the picture quality on the blu-ray is, compared to the Netflix streamed version, I listened to the commentary. It's rare for Criterion to release a disc with a newly recorded commentary these days and this is a really good one, such as the ones they used to make in the old days of laserdisc, with several participants. In addition, there is an fascinating supplement with the sound designer Pete Horner. Now working for Skywalker Sound, he learned his craft under the tutelage of Walter Murch at Zoetrope. He talks us through a few scenes, showing how he added sound to even the most mundane scenes, to convey the feeling the director wanted the audience to experience.