Defending Your LifePG

Directed by Albert Brooks | USA | 1991 | 1h 51m | Starring Starring Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Michael Durrell, James Eckhouse

An acerbic LA advertising executive dies in a car accident and is sent to Judgement City, a purgatory where he must defend his actions on Earth in order to ascend to a higher plane of existence. Albert Brooks finds a perfect balance between satirical bite and romantic-comedy charm as the writer, director, and star of this wonderfully imaginative existential fantasy.

Our screening on Friday 1 July will be introduced by comedian Matthew Chadourne, part of the Oxford Comedy Festival.

Classic Season: Oxford Comedy Festival 2022

Reviews

‘The movie is funny in a warm, fuzzy way, and it has a splendidly satisfactory ending, which is unusual for an Albert Brooks film.’
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed Defending Your Life between July 1, 2022 and July 4, 2022.

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Today (Wednesday 11th March)
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18:00

Burning Man: Art on Fire 12A
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20:45

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1h 53m
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Tomorrow (Thursday 12th March)
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14:45

“Wuthering Heights” 15
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2h 16m
In 18th-century Yorkshire, brooding outsider Heathcliff falls for Catherine, the daughter of his master, igniting a destructive love story of obsession. Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie star in Emerald Fennell’s (Saltburn) sensual adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel.

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17:45

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 15
1h 53m
A house filling with water. A child who won’t get better. And a husband who’s never there. Rose Byrne delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a mother whose world is unravelling in Mary Bronstein’s darkly comic portrait of modern womanhood.

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20:30

Audition 18
1h 55m | Japanese w/ English subtitles
The Japanese Film Club returns with one of the most infamous Japanese horror films ever made. Acclaimed director Takashi Miike delivers a chilling, unsettling nightmare that explores obsession and objectification. And above all, one question lingers: what’s in the bag?

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Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!

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