Originally Posted by
dookey67
THE ART OF SELF DEFENSE
This dark and often surreal comedy walks the line between deadpan brilliance and over-the-top outlandishness. On the surface, TAOSD is an absurdist jaunt into the life of a glorious sad sack who finds redemption in karate. Kind of. The film is teeming with foreshadowing and, in a way, is pretty predictable, but it moves at such a wonderfully succinct pace that you kind of forget about the breadcrumbs that have been dropped until BAM! they smack you in the face and you say “Damn, I should have seen that coming!”.
Jesse Eisenberg plays the socially awkward protagonist to great effect, perhaps a smidgen over-the-top in terms of how stiff and detached he is from reality and social norms. Then again, that seems to be the film’s major ploy: fucking with the balance of impassive and camp. Imogen Poot is equally enthralling, giving an earnest, yet smoldering performance. And Alessandro Nivola as the off-kilter karate sensei is wonderfully malevolent.
On top of it all there’s plenty of good old ultra-violence sprinkled throughout, which offsets the droll satire nicely and helps create an atmosphere where you never really know what’s going to happen next. Okay, I did mention all of the blatant foreshadowing leading up to predictable moments, but the violence often works as a jarring red herring.
If you like your comedies swinging from the gallows, but in an irreverent and left-of-center manner then this is an entertaining and engaging effort.
RIYL: The Lobster; Safety Not Guaranteed; After Hours; Withnail & I; Repo Man
PS
the director's previous film, Faults, is streaming on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend it, as well.
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