Bleecker Street
Most martial art films I have seen have either been realistic or inspirational. Movies like The Karate Kid, Enter the Dragon, and Bloodsport come to mind when I think of my favorite martial arts films. The newest karate film, The Art of Self-Defense, takes a dark humor route instead of the typical way martial art films are structured and that is why I think Riley Stearns’ newest film is one of the best films of the year.
Jessie Eisenberg stars as Casey, who takes up karate to better defend himself after a brutal mugging. Casey is a socially awkward accountant who learns French for fun and coddles his pet dachshund. He has no friends and every time he tries to make friends, it never works out for him. Alessandro Nivola stars as the dojo’s charismatic Sensei who tries to make Casey more masculine by teaching him techniques of karate that may be questionable to others.
I had the pleasure of attending the Seattle International Film Festival where I saw the film and met the director, Riley Stearns. The fun of The Art of Self-Defense is the familiar set up of a film like this and the mixture of dark humor. The film explores the techniques of karate and the hierarchies of different belts and colors. I went into The Art of Self-Defense expecting a full-on comedy, but I appreciated how Stearns integrated the way people learn karate into the film. It’s also full of montages! Who doesn’t love a good montage?
The Art of Self-Defense is one of the funniest films I have seen this year. This movie isn’t filled with constant jokes and foul-mouthed humor but instead it offers dark humor that is technical. The characters in the film provide a lot of deadpan acting and when it comes to the humor, it is mostly describing what they see in front of them or what they believe about something. The humor isn’t open for discussion and isn’t your typical comedy but how the actors pull it off is hilarious.
Alessandro Nivola plays the dojo’s Sensei and he goes by just that, ‘Sensei’. You never find out his name and even on the IMDB page he is referred to as Sensei. Nivola provides most of the humor as he takes his role of the Sensei seriously. He thinks everything people do should be masculine and pushes Casey to masculinize everything in his life. Most of Nivola’s performance is deadpan and technical since he is trying to explain all the manliness around him.
The film has a lot to say about toxic masculinity. As the movie progresses, the subject matter gets deeper and deeper. The Sensei tries to change most of Casey’s life and his interests into the masculine ways he thinks it should be. Casey is learning French, but the Sensei speaks German. He also suggests that Casey trades his dachshund for a German Shepherd and start listening to heavy metal. As Casey’s story is progressing, we get an understanding that not everything has to be masculine and people who learn French, have a dachshund, and don’t listen to heavy metal can be just as strong as the person who does.
The Art of Self-Defense must have one of the most bizarre endings to a film I have seen in a long time. It was totally unexpected, but it made the entire theater laugh. It perfectly captured Casey’s journey in the dojo and becoming comfortable with himself, even though it took a weird turn.
I found The Art of Self-Defense to be a breath of fresh air with its message, comedy, and style of acting. Eisenberg and Nivola were terrific in their roles and I loved Stearns’ approach on the film. It had a lot to say about masculinity, but it was done in a way that didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. The Art of Self-Defense is now expanding into more theaters and I highly recommend checking it out!
The Art of Self-Defense has a run time of 1 hour 44 minutes and is rated R for violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.
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