{"id":7626,"date":"2019-07-17T18:57:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7626"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:57:35","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:57:35","slug":"review-the-art-of-self-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7626","title":{"rendered":"Review: THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quirky narrative examines fragile masculinity with violence and dark humor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The measure of a man, according to the mysterious Sensei, is the ability to punch forcefully with one\u2019s foot. When the meek and unassuming Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) is mugged and left terribly injured, he turns to a local dojo to study Karate. Led by a quietly intimidating man, who merely refers to himself as Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), the school teaches, or should I say preaches, sharpening hand-to-hand combat skills in order to disable or even kill an opponent. The prospect of causing the death of another is handled with a sincere matter-of-fact directness; Sensei is serious about his Karate.

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Jesse Eisenberg plays a man who turns to Karate to come out of his shell.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Casey, who works as a bookish accountant at a large, nondescript corporation, decides to take as much time as possible to recuperate from his attack. And as months pass, his rehabilitation progresses under the watchful eye of Sensei and his skeptical second-in-command Anna (Imogen Poots). But as Casey\u2019s teaching advances, he begins to notice disturbing aspects of the school\u2019s curriculum. And when Sensei invites him to the shadowy night class, Casey\u2019s education takes on a more sinister meaning.

\u201cThe Art of Self-Defense\u201d is arguably a better film than the much lauded \u201cFight Club.\u201d While it\u2019s certainly not as hugely entertaining or epic in its sweep, this tiny, intimate film touches artfully on the same themes that distinguished \u201cFight Club,\u201d and, possibly, with more impact. I suspect that writer\/director Riley Stearns had on his offbeat mind David Fincher\u2019s 1999 dazzling ode to eggshell virility when penning the script. And like \u201cFight Club,\u201d \u201cThe Art of Self-Defense\u201d uses dark humor to expose the ever-present insanity that is bubbling underneath the calm, ordinary mainstream male. One could imagine Casey thinking antipathetically about his boss\u2019 cornflower blue tie.

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Imogen Poots plays the only woman in the dojo.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eisenberg has made a career out of playing characters like Casey. It would be easy to say that the reason the gifted actor often finds himself taking on introverted and nerdy roles is his diminished physical prowess. But Eisenberg does more than just look the part, he seems to understand the sensitive, damaged men he inhabits with an all-knowing ease. And we always embrace his incarnation without even a second thought\u2014it\u2019s the Eisenberg type.

Nivola, an actor who should be more known to audiences, is quietly menacing in an unnerving way. As Sensei, he\u2019s not physically much larger than Eisenberg, but shares Casey\u2019s outsider, fringe status\u2014a neutered and stepped-on, limping male ego. And Nivola uses an emotionally flat tone that is both intimidating and, in a subversively logical way, comforting to the men under his command. He projects sincere and absolute confidence in everything he says. And while he dryly explains that Anna may be an excellent fighter, he follows that up by stating that she will never be better than a man, reasoning that it is just a matter of gender. It\u2019s a twisted philosophy, but one shared widely by the narrow-minded and insecure. This film may be set in a loopy early 1990s alternate universe of sorts, but the truths explored concerning gender prejudice are universal.

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Alessandro Nivola as Sensei, admiring a photo of his Sensei.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Director Stearns last gave us \u201cFaults\u201d in 2014. That film shared the same off-kilter tone as \u201cArt,\u201d mixing in dark humor to comment about mind control and insensitivity in society. And \u201cFaults\u201d was very good, but in \u201cArt,\u201d Stearns digs deeper and delivers a more complete film, one that should propel his career forward. Hopefully, he will stay true to his eclectic origins, especially now that he\u2019s partnered with David and Nathan Zellner (see \u201cDamsel\u201d), who executive produce here.

While \u201cThe Art of Self-Defense\u201d is not for everyone, fans of \u201cFight Club\u201d will be enthused, and folks looking for something odd but still coherent will be beguiled.

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An indie for the “Fight Club” crowd, Jesse Eisenberg learns to punch with his foot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1658,515,1659,163,1383,517,1661,1660],"class_list":["post-7626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-alessandro-nivola","tag-david-zellner","tag-fight-club","tag-imogen-poots","tag-jesse-eisenberg","tag-nathan-zellner","tag-riley-stearns","tag-the-art-of-self-defense","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7632,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626\/revisions\/7632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}