I think Jesse Eisenberg is an actor who generally has little variation in the type of roles he plays. They are often of uncertain or clumsy types. If you have seen an actor do something a lot, a kind of tiredness can develop. You simply don’t feel like seeing the same thing again. If you look at the trailer of The Art of Self-Defense, that would be enough reason to skip the film. Still, I didn’t and I have to conclude that this is one of my favorite films of the year.
Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) is an accountant who has no connection with his colleagues at work. He isolates himself and cannot conect with the conversations between the men who work there. After being attacked on the street late at night, he decides to register for karate. The teacher, the mysterious Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), has an enormous influence on him and wants to make him a real man. There is more going on in the dojo however and the question is whether Casey can handle it all.
This is a pitch-black comedy with which you as a viewer have or have no connection at all and it even reminded me a bit of Midsommar. Within the dojo there are all kinds of customs that sometimes feel like they are a cult. The suggestions that Sensei makes to Casey are often bizarre (for example, he no longer allows him to listen to his favorite music but only to metal, because that is male music). The way Casey blindly follows his master results in a number of bizarre, dark, violent but also funny situations. This is Karate Kid for adults who can enjoy dark humor and director Riley Stearns knows how to make a memorable film. If you could enjoy the sometimes shocking developments in I don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, chances are that you will also enjoy The Art of Self-Defense. And Eisenberg has been perfectly cast here, despite the fact that he again plays “that type of role”.
[score8]