The Art of Self-Defense

"A bold and unsettling comedy masterstroke, as excitingly unexpected as it is uncomfortably familiar"

The Wrap
  • Archive - Festival 35
  • Director: Riley Stearns
  • USA 2019
  • 104 minutes
  • English
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

After he’s attacked on the street at night by a roving motorcycle gang, timid bookkeeper Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) joins a neighborhood karate studio to learn how to protect himself. 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.

Audacious and offbeat, The Art of Self-Defense is an original dark comedy that takes toxic masculinity to absurd extremes.

Filmography: Faults (2014).              

 

After the film you are invited to have a beer or (a glass of) wine at the Sleek. (with proof of purchase and ID - no under age drinking).


  • Director Riley Stearns
  • Production Andrew Kortschak, Walter Kortschak, Cody Ryder, Stephanie Whonsetler
  • Script Riley Stearns
  • Cinematography Michael Ragen
  • Editing Sarah Beth Shapiro
  • Music Heather McIntosh
  • Festivals SXSW, Chicago, Edinburgh, Munich
  • Actors Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, Imogen Poots
  • Source Park Circus, Glasgow