The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
Casey is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hypermasculinity and a woman fighting for her place in it.
- Riley Stearns
- Stephanie Adams
- Diletta Di Nicolantonio
- Siena Brown
- Riley Stearns
Rating: 6.6/10 by 721 users
Alternative Title:
El arte de defenderse - MX
La mejor defensa es un ataque - ES
Umetnost samoodbrane - RS
Искусство самообороны - RU
W obronie wlasnej - PL
ジ・アート・オブ・セルフ・ディフェンス - JP
L'arte della difesa personale - IT
L'art de l'autodéfense - FR
A Arte da Autodefesa - BR
호신술의 모든 것 - KR
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Français
Deutsch
Español
Runtime: 01 hour 44 minutes
Budget: $1,800,000
Revenue: $2,400,000
Plot Keyword: martial arts, sports, psychopath, dark comedy, karate, crematorium, sexism, cult, satire, murder, dojo, motorcycle gang, dog, german shepherd, misogyny, mugging, death of pet, black belt, masculinity, accountant, deadpan, toxic masculinity, traumatized man, ambiguous
‘The Art of Self-Defense’ is a truly funny, dark experience that will polarise audiences, hopefully leaving most of them satisfied. Just try not to think about it too much. - Ashley Teresa Read Ashley's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-art-of-self-defense-a-satire-as-pitch-black-as-a-karate-belt
I went in expecting mumblecore, but got more of a Wes Anderson (which, to be fair, a primary influence of mumblecore). Wes Anderson almost always has violence in his movies, but probably nothing so brutal as _The Art of Self-Defense_. I thought that the whole movie would essentially be setting up Eisenberg as an awkward, meek nerd, who at the very end would go uber-violent, and the joke that they bothered to make a movie for would essentially be "You didn't think this guy would punch very good but then he does". Happy to say, I was wrong. Not only does Eisenberg punch pretty good on actually more than one occasion, there's also a story in _The Art of Self-Defense_ as well, which I was not expecting. Now I still didn't think it was very good, and I definitely didn't think it was very funny, but my very low expectations were exceeded, so in the end I'm actually moderately happy with this one. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._
