“You? Karate? Impossible.”

Ok…I have to admit…since watching The Social Network it is impossible for me to see Jesse Eisenberg act and not think I’m watching Mark Zuckerberg. That may be the reason The Art of Self-Defense makes me a little queasy.

Another may be that about an hour in the movie hits you with a painful sucker punch that makes you realize that this film isn’t a comedy - even a dark one - at all, but a disturbing dive into cult thinking, with a wrapper of toxic masculinity.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves…

The premise of The Art fits like an old Gi: a mild mannered accountant, Casey (Zuckerberg….errr…Eisenberg), lives a quiet life with his uber cute dachshund. Things go sidewise when he is assaulted after picking up dog treats, and he decides he needs to take radical steps to protect himself.

After considering purchasing a gun - and a great exchange with socially conscious gun shop owner, Davey Johnson (Silicon Valley) - he decides that learning Karate may be the key to feeling safe again.

Signing up at a local Karate studio, he is taken under the wing of his instructor, Sensei, played by Alessandro Nivola (Selma). The studio, its students, and Nivola’s words of wisdom - a manipulative mix of faux compassion, macho bluster, and movie lifts, rang true to my own experiences studying in a similar place in the 70s and 80s. It was kind of cool.

An hour or so in though, it becomes obvious that The Art of Self-Defense is not being played for laughs. Very bad things begin to happen, ending in a telegraphed but explosive conclusion that left me hoping I wasn’t really seeing the things on my screen.

What’s the verdict?

The acting is solid (especially Nivola), the dialogue is tight, and the story is disturbing. This is a good movie that I probably won’t watch again - but that you will probably want to check out. If you do though, play it after the younger kids have gone to sleep. The themes - and some scenes - are not for the faint of heart.

You can catch The Art of Self-Defense HERE.

Three out of Five Yellow Belts.

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