The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
After he's attacked on the street at night, timid bookkeeper Casey joins a neighborhood karate studio. Under the watchful eye of a charismatic instructor, Sensei, and hardcore brown belt Anna, Casey gains a newfound sense of confidence for the first time in his life. But when he attends Sensei's mysterious night classes, he discovers a sinister world of fraternity, brutality and hyper-masculinity, presenting a journey that places him squarely in the sights of his enigmatic new mentor.
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Directed By: Riley Stearns
Written By: Riley Stearns
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots, Phillip Andre Botello, Steve Terada
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The Art of Self-Defense belongs to 1 collection
1. NZIFF 2019 (private: adwilson)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Oct 16 |  |
Kitano7 | 55 26% |
| Oct 16 |  |
outTake | 34 5% |
| Oct 16 |  |
Methouse | 70 34% |
| Oct 16 |  |
focak248 | 76 55% |
| Oct 15 | HoneyB | 65 29% |
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| Oct 14 |  |
onrkrsvglu | 67 31% |
| Oct 13 |  |
mikelykzit | 90 91% |
| Oct 13 |  |
M_A | 69 55% |
| Oct 13 | henrybr | 70 22% |
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| Oct 12 | hellwig | 10 6% |
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| Oct 12 |  |
thuja | 70 34% |
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& yücel
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| Oct 12 |  |
devrimozkan | 61 50% |
| Oct 12 | conjuroglou | 80 75% |
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| Oct 11 |  |
Cowman | 70 56% |
| Oct 11 |  |
luisferreira | 74 75% |
| Oct 10 | andyglover | 95 58% |
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| Oct 10 | qwertyes | 65 59% |
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| Oct 10 |  |
jacqueskit | 55 41% |
| Oct 10 |  |
warmur7 | 76 26% |
| Oct 10 |  |
navid.g | 60 14% |
| Oct 10 | KingBread | 80 78% |
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| Oct 09 | Winston4th | 82 70% |
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| Oct 09 |  |
fat!h | 55 33% |
| Oct 09 |  |
selingoknar | 62 10% |
| Oct 09 |  |
avgcrtckr | 55 54% |
| Oct 09 |  |
filmaffinity | 62 51% |
| Oct 09 |  |
NhanLa | 75 75% |
| Oct 09 |  |
brkshn | 65 37% |
| Oct 09 |  |
Paradigma | 65 60% |
| Oct 08 |  |
supergloo | 2 5% |
| Oct 08 |  |
buddhalou | 80 73% |
| Oct 08 |  |
Temptershell | 71 43% |
| Oct 08 | zevel6 | 51 33% |
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| Oct 07 |  |
KeanuGrieves | 90 72% |
| Oct 07 |  |
amazedemon | 69 75% |
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Th Art of Self-Defense is a stylised satire of toxic masculinity that is entertaining to watch, though the film buckles its own themes (and sense of morality) in the third act as it embraces the mildly absurd. The style and dialogue is reminiscent of Lanthimos' The Lobster but without the ambiguity. Nivola, Eisenberg and Poots all play their characters well. Enjoyable if not taken too seriously or at any depth.
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| Oct 07 | izideve | 30 4% |
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| Oct 07 | fedro | 6 1% |
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| Oct 07 |  |
Obdurate | 70 38% |
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I really need more characters to dissect this, but simply put, if you follow the rhetoric these days of toxic masculinity then you probably agree with the message here. There's some truth, but it's not nuanced enough to give an accurate depiction. Besides that, just as a film, it's good. Uncomfortable, usually interesting, some brutal moments, some dry comedy, good performances all around, a little unpredictable. Gets compared to Fight Club--it's not nearly that clever, but still entertaining.
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| Oct 06 | braincaster | 74 55% |
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| Oct 06 |  |
neurophate | 76 64% |
| Oct 06 |  |
pirsu | 75 66% |
| Oct 06 | osmancansert | 73 41% |
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| Oct 06 |  |
christof | 84 72% |
| Oct 05 |  |
bybrt | 65 57% |
| Oct 05 |  |
Caymaz | 76 32% |
| Oct 05 | slanbexx | 55 20% |
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| Oct 04 |  |
HKi | 62 22% |
| Oct 04 | Midaso | 6 63% |
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| Oct 03 |  |
Spunkie | 60 63% |
| Oct 01 |  |
moonsmilk | 8 57% |
| Sep 28 |  |
breetz | 85 88% |
| Sep 14 | wizard81 | 70 52% |
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| Sep 03 |  |
doddsinator | 6 13% |
| Aug 24 | bigboymood | 8 71% |
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| Aug 21 |  |
clouddottir | 74 9% |
| Aug 18 | czimmerman9 | 89 57% |
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| Aug 11 | sandman248 | 70 50% |
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| Aug 10 | adwilson | 85 88% |
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| Aug 04 | areoharewhy | 8 83% |
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| Aug 03 |  |
ienjoycinema | 64 29% |
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A quirky deadpan comedy laden with statements about toxic masculinity and feminism. At times these messages feel condescendingly heavy-handed, but it manages to cleverly approach the subject matter. Jesse Eisenberg is just Jesse Eisenberg, but still maintains the charm that has kept him in movies for this long. The foreshadowing tho is too obvious and for all of it's preaching it fails to take a firm stance at the end of Eisenberg's character arc. It had potential to be more, but it's still fun.
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| Aug 03 | chiphall72 | 60 28% |
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| Aug 01 |  |
TraverseTown | 90 91% |
| Aug 01 |  |
EricDSnider2 | 85 67% |
| Jul 31 | Maxwellj169 | 90 92% |
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| Jul 31 |  |
rebeccalex | 65 24% |
| Jul 29 |  |
VengefulKBM | 80 75% |
| Jul 29 |  |
deaddilly | 65 44% |
| Jul 27 | emgroetz | 6 13% |
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| Jul 26 |  |
Derek_ | 30 12% |
| Jul 25 | dgprim | 50 21% |
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| Jul 25 |  |
jacobclark12 | 71 57% |
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It might be thematically rich and have an incredibly witty screenplay, but I found the overall rhythm of The Art of Self-Defense fairly predictable. While it does satirize traditional elements of masculinity fairly well, it never fully transitioned into that headspace. Eisenberg's turn from his typical shtick into a "macho man" is quite entertaining, but it's Imogen Poots that has the hardest job and impresses me the most here. I feel like a rewatch might do me some good with this one.
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| Jul 25 |  |
Stewball | 70 54% |
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I wish I knew what the point was, other than to set up the climax.
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| Jul 25 | sgBtLt | 70 0% |
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| Jul 24 | Crusty | 7 30% |
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| Jul 24 |  |
toxicwind | 8 66% |
| Jul 23 |  |
Hofschneider | 81 71% |
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A wonderful movie that can't be recommended to anyone. By attacking the coolness of Fight Club, Matrix, Office Space and the late 90ies head on it becomes a deliberately un-cool movie. And therefore a wonderful study on the power of movies and how bros ruing everything. What happens when you don't allow all the idiots to hide behind their "but it also critiques it" BS while imagining they look like Tyler Durden? (That dude they all see very, very critical). The Art of Self-defense happens.
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| Jul 23 | TheStraub | 70 56% |
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| Jul 23 |  |
JakeAesthete | 82 82% |
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Basically just Lanthimos + Jody Hill, whats not to like?
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| Jul 21 |  |
bhajansunlo | 52 34% |
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Limp and obvious satire
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| Jul 21 | sellis | 67 36% |
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The idea of the movie is better than what is delivered. For a movie so heavily influenced by the works of Lanthimos, it never achieves the status of satirical parable. It opts into being a psychological thriller/comedy. Instead of characters representing differing perspectives of a thematic conversation, they exist as one-dimensional knee jerk reactions. Victims. So much potential, but I don’t believe Stearns was clear on his own intentions. False sense of morality kills it.
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| Jul 20 | TheMooseman | 45 83% |
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| Jul 20 |  |
Roz | 70 45% |
| Jul 19 | Florin92 | 70 67% |
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| Jul 18 |  |
M_Edelman | 70 12% |
| Jul 14 |  |
natebarrios | 60 28% |
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at its strongest when it's matter-of-fact-ly satirizing absurd amounts of toxic masculinity. good for some laughs.
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| Jul 13 | filmcricket | 67 66% |
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| Jul 12 |  |
exolstice | 75 35% |
| Jul 10 |  |
MetaCritic2 | 65 57% |
| Average Percentile 48.17% from 88 Ratings |  |
