The Art of Self-Defense

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, Imogen Poots, Steve Terada, David Zellner, Phillip Andre Botello
Directed by: Riley Stearns
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After being attacked, a young man (Jesse Eisenberg) signs up at a local dojo to learn to defend himself. The sensei (Alessandro Nivola) appears kind and helpful, but soon shows a darker side.

Review:

Tim: Look, I'm going to have a number of complaints about Riley Stearns' The Art of Self-Defense. Before I do that, though, I need to applaud him for directly a wholly original, complicated, thought-provoking film. I couldn't quite bring myself to like it, but there's a lot to feel good about in this decent movie.

It's difficult for me to verbalize the oddness of this movie. It's a dark comedy and oftentimes, the dark is pitch black. A number of things happen in this film that would shock and mortify most people, but characters kind of nonchalantly respond to it. The movie is filled with exceptional, but odd performances. You've never seen something quite like this before and you're not really prepared to deal with it.

At the highest level, this felt like a film about toxic masculinity. That whole machismo thing is laughable and I loved that Stearns explored the ludicrousness of these "tough" "warriors" that so many men believe themselves to be. He does this quite well, building up to examine where toxic masculinity can lead if left unchecked.

The movie is also a wonderful swap of the typical karate-type movies. I read a review that said it was like Riley Stearns watched The Karate Kid and said, "Yeah, I can do the opposite of that." That's a great summary of this movie- it's a feel-bad martial arts movie. We haven't seen too many of those. The way Stearns does this is impressive. It's like he deconstructs so many images of martial arts films and practitioners that we have.

I'm giving the film a lot of praise at this point, and that's all warranted. The biggest issue I have is that Stearns' script ultimately plays too loose with what we'd consider real or believable. He pushes the envelope for sure, and for many of those moments, we can go along with him. For others, it's just too hard to take it seriously. This film would have been more effective had some of the more outlandish events been reigned in. There's several moments where quite shocking things happen, and the characters just stand around stoically. It wasn't believable, even within the context of this comedy. The story ultimately asks too much of the audience and I wasn't able to go where it needed me to go. That undercuts the message and it makes the film difficult to sit through. At 1 hour, 44 minutes, the movie wasn't too long, but it's not a film I would enjoy sitting through again. There's too many moments that caused me to roll my eyes or utter, "Come on!". The message was right on, the big picture was great, but Stearns stumbles some in the execution. This is only his second feature film, so I'm very forgiving of these flaws. I'm incredibly interested to see what he does next. Stearns shows a ton of potential in this film, even if it does feel like an early-career movie. It needed more polish.

Jesse Eisenberg was so good in the lead role. I'm not sure what kind of direction he got from Stearns, but that obviously shaped his performance immensely. The dry affect, his mannerisms, it's all unexpected. Eisenberg gives a very restrained performance, but is able to convey a great deal of emotion without big gestures. His subtlety is excellent. Eisenberg is a really talented actor. Too often he's cast in roles that don't allow him to show this, but he shines here.

Alessandro Nivola, though, steals the show. I absolutely loved his bonkers performance. If it was up to me, he'd probably have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I'm shaking my head, trying to convey how wonderfully weird he was in this film. His Sensei is one of the most unhinged, bizarre characters I've seen. He has to be one of the most memorable in any martial arts film (not quite to a Bruce Lee or Mr. Miyagi level, but still). His performance is also heavily restrained, but he's mesmerizing on screen. I just loved his performance so much- he's incredible in this dark, funny role. I loved how he was able to be humorous while scaring you as well. Nivola is the highlight of the film for me. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Imogen Poots. In the few films I've seen her in, she was either okay or completely forgettable. She was maybe a bit better than that here. She gives a solid performance, but I don't think I ever loved her work here. She feels too disposable as an actress- like a dozen people could have done what she did here. I'm not sure if this belief will waver over time. I don't have any complaints about her performance, I'm just not convinced she's that much of a talent.

I wanted to like The Art of Self-Defense more than I did. Stearns does some brilliant things with his unexpected movie. However, it feels like he's a director still building his resume. I suspect he's got great movies in him, it'll just take some time and more experience to bring them out. I feel bad I didn't enjoy this movie more because it's definitely memorable. I just think a few of those flaws prevent the movie from being enjoyable. It could have been funnier, it could have been more rooted in reality. Still, this is a decent movie that I'm glad I watched.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Faults, The Social Network, The Karate Kid