The Art of Self Defense

2019’s The Art of Self Defense, written and directed by Riley Stearns.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, Imogen Poots, David Zellner, Phillip Andre Botello, Steve Terada, Hauke Bahr, Jason Burkey, and Justin Eaton.

What is it about?

Mid 30’s accountant Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) is socially ill at ease, and has little control over his life. Bullied and ignored at his job, and with only his dog to keep him company, one night he is hospitalized after being attacked and mugged. Unable to take it anymore, he enrolls in a karate class. Taught by a quietly menacing sensei (Alessandro Nivola), Casey gets to know his fellow students, such as the kind hearted Henry (David Zellner), and accomplished but undervalued Anna (Imogen Poots). Casey begins to gain confidence and alter his way of looking at the world, but also starts to learn about the potential drawbacks of the dojo.

Why is it worth seeing?

Fans of deadpan comedy will find few faults with Self Defense’s humour. In a style similar to 2018’s Sorry to Bother You, it respects its audience in refusing to explain when it’s appropriate to laugh. Surreal and dark, each straight faced encounter between its characters is another exercise in daring one not to guffaw at some of the bizarre scenarios presented. Filled with throwaway sight and audio gags, it never distracts from the movie’s central question- who doesn’t find toxic masculinity funny?


A compellingly strange film needs a lead that is attuned to its clunky rhythm. Historically, lead actor Jesse Eisenberg often has his troubles moving past his inherent nebbishness. It just means that he is far more at home in roles playing irascible trolls like Mark Zuckerberg or even Lex Luthor, than more likable souls such as David Lipsky or Columbus (bonus points to him giving several shirtless scenes and having virtually no signs of athletic prowess). In his role of Casey (which another character drolly explains is a very feminine sounding name), he has found his comfort place. Tightly wound but completely impotent, he is a guy who burns hot- just as soon as he figures out how to speak to people. As well, Imogen Poots (who after Green Room is threatening to start a steak after appearing in yet another solid film with bad hair), and Alessandro Nivola, are solid as the senior members of the dojo who belong to an unjust hierarchy.

Comedic beats and well placed casting established, it’s the unstable but liberating realm of toxic masculinity that inevitably bring up Fight Club comparisons. As in that film, we witness a loser who self actualizes through some form of combat with others, and in the larger picture, finds a cause that compels him to want to get out of bed in the morning. In the film’s hilarious but plain styled depiction, writer/director Riley Stearns doesn’t have David Fincher’s gravitas or exacting precision- but his ball peen hammer-to-the-knee script’s conclusion brings a sense of completion that the 1999 masterpiece couldn’t coax. Self Defense’s lack of hall of fame pyrotechnics (and further lack of controversy!) is what gives it its solidarity, a lower floor that allows for the final act’s higher ceiling. Another feature it shares with the Edward Norton/Brad Pitt vehicle, is the revealing of a corrupt world that originally felt purified at the start of the journey. Here, it echoes the corruption of society in its occasional entrenched hopelessness- and subsequent calls for a radical solution that the purest of zealots, and the film itself, do not shy away from. Awash in a world that gets more perverse the further one goes, the screenplay’s direction goes to surprising places that are as commendable as they are inspiring. It’s atypical, to be surprised by a film’s choices in its characters’ journeys- and enjoyable. To miss out on a film so packed with originality, laughs, and an actual viewpoint on how the end could justifies the means, there is simply no defence for.

Rating:

4/5

Trailer: Click Here.