By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Riley Stearns
Starring: Alessandro Nivola | Imogen Poots | Jesse Eisenberg | Phillip Andre Botello | Steve Terada
Country: united_states
Year: 2019
Running time: 104
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7339248/reference
Julie says: “I had the pleasure of seeing THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE (TAOSD) at the Coolidge as part of the IFF Boston 2019. It was a late showing (~9:40 pm) and the previous movie left me dosing off at one point. Conversely TAOSD kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through! It was unexpectedly hilarious, dark and riveting from beginning to end. One of my favorites at the festival. I was surprised and happy to have been there as I think the rest of the audience was as well.
“Jessie Eisenberg is perfect as the lead character Casey, a meek young man, attacked at random on the street, who joins a local dojo, in an effort to learn how to defend himself. Alessandro Nivola is stellar as the charismatic and mysterious Sensei, leader of the dojo. Imogen Poots gives an outstanding performance as Anna, a high ranking member and beginner class teacher at the dojo. I am sure I’ll be nominating this group of three (along with other small but great perfs) for best ensemble cast along with other nominations for this movie. I am guessing there might be questions of lead versus supporting for this one.
“I would like to also mention I would nominate Casey’s dog’s performance if we nominate for animal perfs this year. We’ve got to one of these years!”
Michael says: “Writer/Director Riley Stearns sends up a dark satire about the culture of violence with a dash of misogyny in THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE. Jesse Eisenberg plays Casey, an accountant who is mugged one night getting his dachshund some kibble, and brutally beaten. He considers purchasing a gun for self-defense, but he stumbles across a karate school, with a charismatic sensei (the always effective Alessandro Nivola) and is swept up in their philosophy, while learning how to channel his anger and self-confidence. When a series of disturbing occurrences cause him to rethink the direction his sensei is taking him, Casey finds himself in too deep to easily find his way out.