Review of Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020) by Raider_Nation — 06 Oct 2020

Even by Netflix standards, this was a sub-par movie, so disappointing. The pace was so slow and meandering. There was no story, nothing compelling, nothing touching. The several staged portions just hung there in space, going nowhere -- they were just plain amateurish, not creative.

The director seemed to be really full of herself. The movie's subject, Dick Johnson, seemed to be a nice enough man. But his so-called "decline" was hardly anything, there was no progression of the disease like the trailers and reviews implied there would be.

Just a nice, addled, forgetful man, who ended up dying of a heart attack. If I had to pick out one worst aspect, it was that any event which might have been interesting took place off camera and/or was glossed over.

Was that guy "Kirk Johnson" who appeared briefly on the television her brother? If so, why was there nothing about him in the film? Was she once married to either of the apparently-gay fathers of her two children, or was she being a friend to them by having their children? Either one would be fine and honorable, but by avoiding the subject, she just seemed to be hiding things in a really frustrating way.

I have no idea how the critics gave this an 87. I would give it a 30. I suspect that, being a cinematographer by trade, the director knows some critics and got some critical support that way. Maybe they felt bad for her, who knows.