Jesse Eisenberg as Casey in The Art of Self-Defense
In what can be defined as a “cult comedy”, The Art of Self-Defense revolves around the story of what happens after Casey (Jesse Eisenberg), a 35-year-old man viewed by his peers as weak and non-threatening, gets mugged in the street at night. After suffering much trauma, both physically and emotionally, his first thought is to buy a handgun. But with the laws on background checks in place, he is momentarily frightened at the fact that he will have to wait awhile before actually owning this piece of ordnance. On his way home, Casey passes a local dojo and walks in to witness the action, thus beginning his unique journey as he learns to define the art of self-defense.
In an effort to “be what intimidates him,” Casey enrolls in karate classes. Albeit starting lowest of the low, and after receiving his initial white belt, a man who calls himself Sensei (Alessandro Nivola) quickly promotes Casey to yellow belt and he wears it proudly, both figuratively and quite literally. He becomes obsessed with everything yellow: buying strictly yellow items at the grocery store and even purchasing a custom-made yellow belt to feel powerful every moment of the day.
Despite taking karate lessons and gaining a bit of self-confidence, a parking lot run-in shatters everything Casey thought he was becoming. After another man nicks the side of Casey’s beige sedan with his truck door, Casey speaks up for himself but is quickly brought back down and lets the man get away with the damage he did. Casey’s emotions are hit hard, and his only natural solution is to cry in his car after not being able to take control of the situation.
After this encounter and talking with Sensei, Casey goes full-force masculine: blasting heavy metal music, teaching himself German, exploring a men’s magazine, talking it up with the boys at work, and avoiding any displays of affection for his dachshund. This five-minute or so series of scenes was not only the funniest part of the film, but it also exemplified the creative and genius comedy that built and excelled the narrative. The fact that Casey is extravagantly and obnoxiously becoming someone he’s not draws a lot of laughs. It is also a comment on the absurdity of how society defines masculinity; writer and director Riley Stearns does an excellent job of using stereotypical extremes to demonstrate this absurdity. While at the same time, he’s poking fun at the male insecurity of “not being masculine enough”. Stearns reveals this ridiculousness to a level where we can question how we as a society view masculinity, and challenge those opinions and that mindset.
Casey eventually begins to see this masculine overcompensation as a destructive force after having a conversation with Anna (Imogen Poots), a brown belt and the only woman in the dojo’s intensive night class. Despite proving herself time and time again, she is consistently refused the promotion to black belt when she clearly has the highest skill set of all the men who pass her in rank. Soon after this series of events is where the story gets interesting, the plot starts to unravel, and we begin to witness the emergence of a brilliantly executed narrative.
This film can be divided into two halves: the first half is involved in setting the premise of the story and its characters, building a foundation for the narrative, and best of all, exploiting comedy. In relative opposition, the second half of the film focuses on executing the build-up of established narrative that came along in the first half, constituted by unexpected twists and turns. I believe one thing (of many) that made The Art of Self-Defense such a great film was this use of surprise and Stearns’ ability to craft unexpected events so meticulously. These events not only build the narrative, but also prompt and justify character development. This is in creative contrast to most narrative structures where characters develop and then “surprise” the audience in some fashion. Brilliantly the other way around, this film utilizes the unexpected events to develop the characters.
To avoid any spoilers I’ll leave you with this: the end of The Art of Self-Defense comes together like you’d never expect, both the narrative as a whole and events that support the narrative’s execution. This film will make you laugh uncontrollably, while also making you feel empathetic. The dichotomy between comedy and solemnity both give reason as to why this film is hilarious, as well as why it’s so strikingly brilliant. Riley Stearns truly put a masterpiece together.
tl;dr: Buy a ticket and go see this film. It’s well worth it.
Rating: ★★★★★ / ★★★★★
You can watch the trailer here:
The Art of Self-Defense is out in theaters July 12, 2019.
Nadia Jurkovich is the treasurer of CUFP and a sophomore in Columbia Engineering.