Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Defending Your Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 3, 2021

Albert Brooks' "Defending Your Life" (1991) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film; new program with the director; and archival interviews; and new program with theologian and critic Donna Bowman. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Shortly after he dies in his brand new BMW, successful advertising executive Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks) is transferred to Judgement City, a special place where visitors like him are evaluated before they are dispatched to their next destination. At a fancy hotel, Miller gets a free room and some basic information about his stay there, and then meets Bob Diamond (an excellent Rip Torn), a local legal expert who is going to represent him. Diamond’s brief description of his upcoming trial, however, confuses him even more because he has trouble figuring out precisely what is expected of him.

It all begins to make sense to Miller when the feisty prosecutor Lena Foster (Lee Grant) starts deconstructing his life and, while relying on visual evidence, attempts to prove that he isn’t ready to move forward because he rarely tried his best. According to Foster, Miller lived a life full of failures that were a byproduct of good old-fashioned fear, which is the ultimate deal-breaker for visitors like him who expect to move on. Naturally, to get the human experience right Miller would have to return to Earth reincarnated as another person. As Diamond expertly dismisses Foster’s claims, Miller begins recalling the many ups and downs of his life.

While taking breaks from the hearings, Miller meets Julia (Meryl Streep), who has also died in an accident, and they begin spending time together. They fall in love too, but it quickly becomes obvious that a higher power is pushing them in opposite directions.

Brooks wrote and directed Defending Your Life, so there is no doubt that it sums up a very personal concept of the journey to the Other Side. There is a certain logic in it that keeps it coherent, and if you accept it, then it is practically guaranteed that you will have a great time with his film.

The only aspect of this concept that makes sense to me, however, is the insistence that fear plays a profound role in our lives. I think that it is impossible to argue the opposite. Different types of fear determine many, possibly even all, of the crucial choices we make while we are alive. Fear can prevent us from attending a great school and deny us an excellent job, or make it impossible to connect with that truly special partner that can make our lives complete. In the distant corners of our minds, we all have hidden memories with ‘what if’ moments that could have redirected and profoundly transformed our lives.

But the rest of the film’s speculations and conclusions seem utterly ridiculous to me. On top of this, they emerge from an environment that I find enormously unpleasant. Why? Because it is a sterile world of fancy hotels and upscale restaurants and clubs which the film is desperate to sell as attractive because you drink and eat all you want there without any consequences. This is meant to be a more perfect version of our imperfect world? Really? What else can you do there without any consequences? Also, for some strange reason the film does not reveal who oversees the supposedly intellectually superior judges that determine your next destination. Houston, we have a problem. And why isn’t Miller’s curiosity seen in a positive light? Before his trial begins, there is a short sequence in which Miller asks Diamond to clarify something for him but immediately gets shot down because he would not understand even if he was given a simple answer. Riiight. Stay in your corner, dummy. The smart people are in control here.

There are a few oddly funny moments during the dating activities, but the chemistry between Brooks and Streep just isn’t good enough. Most of the time it looks like they recite memorized lines until it is time to move on.

Allen Daviau’s cinematography is the film’s greatest strength. There are some really nice looking shots from Judgement City that give the film an unforgettable futuristic vibe.

Defending Your Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Defending Your Life arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Approved by director Albert Brooks, this new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the original 35mm camera negative at Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Imaging in Burbank, California. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, and small dirt. The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the original 35mm LTRT magnetic tracks using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX. Please be sure to enable Dolby Pro Logic decoding on your receiver to properly play the Dolby 2.0 surround soundtrack.

Transfer supervisor: Albert Brooks.
Colorist: Lee Kline."

The film looks terrific in high-definition. Everything from delineation and clarity to depth and fluidity looked rock-solid on my system. I even upscaled a portion of the film in 4K and all I have to add is that the quality of the presentation was as good as I imagined it would be. There are no traces of problematic digital work. Grain is very nicely exposed and evenly distributed, as you should be able to tell from the screencaptures that are included with our review. The grading job is fantastic as well. The primaries are lush, stable, and very nicely balanced. There are excellent ranges of supporting nuances as well. There are no image stability issues. The entire film looks spotless. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Defending Your Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

There are no technical or encoding anomalies to report in our review. The audio is very clear, sharp, and nicely balanced. Dynamic intensity is unlikely to impress folks that appreciate modern sound designs, but some of the nuances that emerge during the more intimate moments could surprise. There are no traces of age-related imperfections.

Defending Your Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Defending Your Life. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Albert Brooks and Robert Weide - in this program, Albert Brooks and filmmaker Robert Weide discuss the appeal of Defending Your Life, the motivation behind the film, the idea of death and the afterlife, the main character and the dilemmas he faces, etc. The program was produced for Criterion in November 2020. In English, not subtitled. (29 min).

• Albert Brooks, Lee Grant, and Rip Torn - this program features clips from archival interviews with Albert Brooks and actors Lee Grant and Rip Torn in which they discuss their contributions to Defending Your Life. The interviews were recorded for the television talk show Crook & Chase in 1991. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Spending Time in Judgement City - in this new program, theologian and critic Donna Bowman deconstructs Defending Your Life. The program was produced for Criterion in November 2020. In English, not subtitled. (22 min).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by filmmaker Ari Aster and technical credits.

Defending Your Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If the afterlife looks and functions even remotely like the place Albert Brooks presents in Defending Your Life, then it is probably best to skip it because it is painfully obvious that it is run by a different crop of opinionated elitists. I am sorry, but I found the manner in which the hosts repeatedly dismissed the supposedly intellectually inferior character Brooks plays beyond revealing about the place they are supposedly in charge with. I would not want to be a guest there, and I certainly would not trust the hosts to determine the next phase of my existence -- whatever it may be. On top of this, I found the acting quite unconvincing as well. Criterion's release of Defending Your Life is sourced from an excellent new 4K master, so if you have a different, much more positive take on the film and want it in your library, place your order with confidence.