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I normally avoid any movies about dementia like the plague, but one I loved is Dick Johnson Is Dead, in which documentarian Kirsten Johnson imagines all kinds of death scenarios for her father, Dick, who has recently been diagnosed with dementia, and has him help her reenact them on film. Dick Johnson is delightful and a great sport, and the movie is not only delightful and funny, but dare I say it, weirdly uplifting and life-affirming. I highly recommend it. I got to speak with Kirsten Johnson via Zoom this past week and I found her to be almost as good an interview as she is a filmmaker. She gave me the lowdown on some questions I had about the film, like how she filmed the surreal funeral sequence, and some questions about her life, like her kids and growing up Seventh Day Adventist. I hope you enjoy it!
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