Good luck trying to classify "The Art of Self-Defense."
Best guess is that the film from writer-director Riley Stearns should fall under the heading of a sports movie as it has so many of the tropes familiar to the genre. The main theme of the production is that a 98-pount weakling turns to karate after being brutally attacked by a motorcycle gang.
It could also be looked at as a deeply political satire on life by taking themes like chest-beating machismo and unbridled sexism and pushing both agendas both forward and backward. Stearns also takes swipes at the class system of corporate America, gun ownership, the debilitating pain of loneliness and hero worship: all fodder for numerous discussions on what defines a person.
Those are good choices but once you wade through all of those elements, because of the dark heart of "The Art of Self-Defense" the film turns out to simply be one of the blackest comedies in recent years.
All of this revolves around Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) a man who is a medical miracle because he is such a wimp that it appears he's able to stand up without having a backbone. Not only is he mistreated by the world, the meekness of the character is so dominating, it's almost a blessing when he's attacked on the street by a roving motorcycle gang. It at least wakes him up to the need for change.
He turns to a local karate school after being convinced by a sensei (Alessandro Nivola) who has the charisma and mind-twisting skills to equal any cult leader. Casey's unusual relationship with his teacher sets up this bizarre contrast between the unquestioned rules of martial arts and the lack or rules in the real world. Only Anna (Imogen Poots), a much maligned brown belt, offers flickers of reality from the outside world.
It takes an actor like Eisenberg to make the story work. There is a low-key approach to the world that Eisenberg presents in most of his performances and, in this case, it's the perfect tone as he's playing a character who has taken emotionless conformity to a painful level. The shell of Casey is a constant shade of gray, but Eisenberg shows through his face that underneath that yellow belt is a volcano of rage just waiting for the right emotional crack to use as a release.
Nivola and Poots offer strong counterparts to Casey but never to the point of becoming totally defined. It's difficult to tell if these people in Casey's life are really close enough to him to be looked at as a father figure or lover. Or are they also presenting facades that mask their own dark interiors?
Stearns drives at all his points with quick jabs. Sometimes his approach is so quick or buried under so many heavy themes that the movie jumps track. But most of the time his efforts are quickly pulled back on course as Stearns takes a complicated idea and reduces it to a very understandable basic level.
There are times when some ideas and themes spiral into such a dark absurdity that they never make any sense. Most of the film is built around a situation that is too on the nose to be brushed off as an acceptable coincidence. If you can't dismiss this as a privilege of the writer then the rest of the movie will never gain enough composure for you to enjoy it.
"The Art of Self-Defense" is both a smart and annoying sports film. It embraces and dismisses big ideas without hesitation. And, the comedy is so dark that it may be blinding to some. At least there is no way to dismiss the film as being just another formulaic attempt at entertainment. If nothing else, it is one of the most unique films of the year.
