Reviews by:
@picturesinflow
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The Art of Self-Defense is yet another quirky dark comedy, starting as a comedy and uplifting story and then turning drastically into a thriller. It follows the story of a man being attacked/mugged, who then in a way to gain self-confidence joins a local dojo.
This instantly went into my list of ‘show to friends when asked to show something unique’ and it rightfully deserves that place. This was a trip from start to end, the start is slow and methodical, giving you just enough context to understand and then ramps up from the middle to the end.
Jesse Eisenberg gives a career best as the deeply troubled ‘Casey’, who needs to balance his corporate job and his newfound hobby in the dojo. Imogen Poots as the lovable ‘Anna’ and the dastardly evil Alessandro Nivola as ‘Sensei’, these two round up the film and give the much-needed counterweight for the main. The movie tackles some pretty heavy topics, namely masculinity in both male and female, but does in a interesting way.
This is a martial arts movie which pulls absolutely zero punches and shows to what extend man can be evil, if left uncontrolled by society. A definite must watch at least once and, as said before, goes straight into the recommendation pile and the favorite pile.
Be warned though, this movie is not for everyone and includes some pretty triggering and gory scenes.
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