'Dick Johnson is Dead' is both heartwarming and heartbreaking

The covd-19 pandemic has forced a lot of us to reckon with death. And the reality of my parents aging has hit home more and more. So watching the Netflix documentary Dick Johnson is Dead was an emotional experience for me. The film is about trying learn how to accept the inevitability of death -- and yet it's sort of a light comedy except for when it isn't.

The film is directed by Johnson's daughter Kirsten, who serves as the narrator and as the ringmaster of an elaborate project. She hires stuntmen and stages elaborate (and very real looking) fake death scenes involving her dad, to sort of soften the blow of the very real decline of her father.

Dick Johnson, who appears to be an incredibly genial and gentle man, is suffering from dementia and has already had several close calls, and yet, he seems to be incredibly good natured and is a good sport about the project, committing to playing dead repeatedly.

Tragically, he and his daughter have already lived through the deterioration of his wife -- whose body and mind collapsed. Courageously, Kirsten has decided to document her father before he has taken an irreversible turn for the worst.

The result makes for a very sad movie that is punctuated with joyous fantasy sequences and adorable charm. In a way the film is like death itself -- it's never not upsetting but it can also be reflective and even a little regenerative.

The production values are good but the movie has a ramshackle, homemade quality which makes it feel deeply personal, but it's also pretty universal. 

We all have ebullient people in our lives like Dick Johnson, people we couldn't imagine ever losing and what this film does is remind you how fleeting moments with these can be (especially at the end) and the movie makes a literal and philosophical case for making the most of your time this person before it's too late.

I'll admit I had been sort of afraid to watch it, having been broadly familiar with the premise. But it's really rewarding viewing and a special film for this strange time we've living in.

It's poignant finale is unbelievably moving, gut wrenching even -- but it's never manipulative or self-indulgent. It's transcendent.