‘SELF-DEFENSE’ IS A KICK IN THE TEETH
“The Art of Self-Defense,” director/writer Riley Stearns’ deeply black and disturbing comedy about one man’s bout with selfimprovement, manages to do something few films this summer have done. In a season when so many movies evaporate from memory upon exiting the theater, “Self-Defense,” like Ari Aster’s “Midsommar,” is the kind of film that — love it or loathe it — should spark the kinds of post-screening discussions that can make moviegoing so much fun.
For its first 20 minutes or so, “Self-Defense” seems like just another quirky, deadpan indie comedy full of awkward laughs. Jesse Eisenberg is Casey, a 30something nebbish of an accountant for whom dull beige khaki is not just a fashion statement but a biography. He has no friends, except for maybe his boss, and that doesn’t really count. He lives alone, except for his cute dachshund and the constant fear that grips his life. He’s not so much despised at work by the other guys as ignored. He moves through the world as if invisible.
His one effort to change his life involves trying to learn French, but you just know it’s doomed to ultimate failure as he’ll never summon up the courage to actually, you know, go to France.
Things change radically on a late-night excursion to the corner market to buy dog food. He’s taunted, harassed and then beaten by a crew of motorcyclists who go after him the way a hungry cheetah hunts down the weakest member of a herd.
This is his wake-up call. At first, he considers getting a gun but, after stumbling across a karate school run by a man who just calls himself Sensei (Alessandro Nivola, “American Hustle”), he decides to better himself
through martial arts.
At this point, “The Art of SelfDefense” seems like it could be become a tongue-far-in-cheek, millennial “Karate Kid,” in which our “hero” learns life lessons while learning to stand up for himself — and maybe even finds a relationship with the school’s female instructor, Anna (Imogen Poots).
But that’s not at all what Stearns has in mind. Instead, “The Art of Self-Defense” turns into an often brutal takedown of both toxic masculinity and the willingness of humans of both genders to give up their individuality in service of some greater authority in which they find identity and fellowship.
This seems to be something Stearns thinks about a lot. His previous film and first feature, the relatively little-seen “Faults,” focuses
on a man who studies cults and mind-control techniques. But “Self-Defense” should break him out to a wider audience.
The cast is solid, with Eisenberg managing to twist his predictable geeky, twitchy nervousness into something more ominous.
In a world of so much cinematic predictability, “The Art of SelfDefense” is a welcome, if often uncomfortable, surprise.
ALESSANDRO NIVOLA, RIGHT, AND JESSE EISENBERG STAR IN “THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE.”