Defending Your Life
Is there love after death? Acerbic everyman Albert Brooks finds a perfect balance between satirical bite and romantic-comedy charm as the writer, director, and star of this wonderfully warm and imaginative existential fantasy. After he dies suddenly, the hapless advertising executive Daniel Miller (Brooks) finds himself in Judgment City, a gleaming way station where the newly deceased must prove they lived a life of sufficient courage to advance in their journey through the universe. As the self-doubting Daniel struggles to make his case, a budding relationship with the uninhibited Julia (Meryl Streep) offers him a chance to finally feel alive. Buoyed by a pitch-perfect supporting cast that includes Rip Torn, Lee Grant, and Buck Henry, Defending Your Life is a rare feat of personal, philosophical filmmaking that happens to also be divinely entertaining.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Albert Brooks, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Brooks and filmmaker Robert Weide
- New interview with theologian and critic Donna Bowman about Brooks's vision of the afterlife
- New program featuring excerpts from interviews conducted in 1991 with Brooks and actors Lee Grant and Rip Torn
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Ari Aster
New cover based on an original theatrical poster
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Albert Brooks, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between Brooks and filmmaker Robert Weide
- New interview with theologian and critic Donna Bowman about Brooks's vision of the afterlife
- New program featuring excerpts from interviews conducted in 1991 with Brooks and actors Lee Grant and Rip Torn
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by filmmaker Ari Aster
New cover based on an original theatrical poster
Cast
- Albert Brooks
- Daniel Miller
- Meryl Streep
- Julia
- Rip Torn
- Bob Diamond
- Lee Grant
- Lena Foster
- Buck Henry
- Dick Stanley
- Lillian Lehman
- Daniel’s judges
- George Wallace
- Gary Beach
- Car salesman
- Time Winters
- Porter
- Mary Pat Gleason
- Breakfast waitress
- Roger Behr
- Comedian
- Toshio Shikami
- Head sushi chef
- Leonard O. Turner
- Sam
- Ken Thorley
- Frank
- Clifford Einstein
- Julia’s prosecutor
- Rachel Bard
- Julia’s judges
- Newell Alexander
- James Manis
- Italian restaurant waiter
- Shirley MacLaine
- Herself
Credits
- Director
- Albert Brooks
- Written by
- Albert Brooks
- Executive producer
- Herb Nanas
- Producer
- Michael Grillo
- Coproducer
- Robert Grand
- Director of photography
- Allen Daviau
- Editor
- David Finfer
- Production designer
- Ida Random
- Music
- Michael Gore
- Costume design
- Deborah Lynn Scott
- Casting
- Barbara Claman
- Mark Saks
- Production sound mixer
- Thomas Causey
- Art direction
- Richard Reynolds
- Set decoration
- Linda DeScenna
- Makeup
- Hallie D’Amore
- Hair
- J. Roy Helland
- Marlene D. Williams
- Still photographer
- Carol McCullough
A scene from Defending Your Life
