Dick Johnson is not dead yet. But his daughter Kirsten Johnson, a documentarian has to face up to the fact that she will soon lose him. Having watched her mother slowly disappear and succumb to Alzheimer’s, the diagnosis of her fathers dementia was devastating and this documentary is many things. An attempt to come to terms with his mortality, a darkly humourous way to visualise his death, an attempt to stave off the dementia and prolong his life, but most of all a love letter to her dad. 

Filmed over the course of a couple of years it discusses Dick’s life as they pack up the office and home in Seattle that he spent many years in to move him in with Kirsten in New York. As Kirsten celebrates his life she also places him in fantastical situations. We get to see him die many times as a result of unfortunate accidents and we get to see him in heaven as happy as can be. The images of him dancing with his dead wife is so striking and beautiful. Taking old photographs and blowing them up to giant proportions so actors can wear them as masks as they dance with Dick. 

The love that is shared between them is immense and so is the bravery of all those involved in making the film. Dick comes across as such a happy nice man that watching his memory degrade over the course of the film is truly upsetting.

It is a fantastic achievement and I bawled my eyes out. Emotionally devastating but also a beautiful love letter to life. Do yourself a favour, get some tissues, sit down, watch this and have a good cry.