Casey is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hypermasculinity and a woman fighting for her place in it.
- Animal harm
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Contemporary, comic, open-ended and ironic.
- contemporarynostalgic
- gravecomic
- resolvedopen-ended
- earnestironic
- warmbleak
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“Does the irony keep it from meaning anything?”
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“Is it funnier than it is smart?”
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“Is Jesse Eisenberg the best thing in The Art of Self-Defense?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Gimlyon TMDB · Jan 20205/10
I went in expecting mumblecore, but got more of a Wes Anderson (which, to be fair, a primary influence of mumblecore). Wes Anderson almost always has violence in his movies, but probably nothing so brutal as _The Art of Self-Defense_. I thought that the whole movie would essentially be setting up Eisenberg as an awkward, meek nerd, who at the very end would go uber-violent, and the joke that they bothered to make a movie for would essentially be "You didn't think this guy would punch very good but then he does". Happy to say, I was wrong. Not only does Eisenberg punch pretty good on actually more than one occasion, there's also a story in _The Art of Self-Defense_ as well, which I was not expecting. Now I still didn't think it was very good, and I definitely didn't think it was very funny, but my very low expectations were exceeded, so in the end I'm actually moderately happy with this one. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._
Read the whole review on TMDB - SWITCH.on TMDB · Sep 20198/10
‘The Art of Self-Defense’ is a truly funny, dark experience that will polarise audiences, hopefully leaving most of them satisfied. Just try not to think about it too much. - Ashley Teresa Read Ashley's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-the-art-of-self-defense-a-satire-as-pitch-black-as-a-karate-belt
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Cast
- Jesse EisenbergCasey
- Alessandro NivolaSensei
- Imogen PootsAnna
- Steve TeradaThomas
- David ZellnerHenry
- Phillip Andre BotelloKennith
- Jason BurkeyAlex
- Mike BrooksSteve
- C.J. RushOther Steve
- Davey JohnsonGun Store Owner
Crew
- Riley StearnsDirector
- Riley StearnsScreenplay
- Michael RagenDirector of Photography
- Heather McIntoshOriginal Music Composer
- Sarah Beth ShapiroEditor
- Walter KortschakProducer
- Andrew KortschakProducer
- Stephanie WhonsetlerProducer
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