15 Best Movies Of 2019 (So Far)

9. The Art Of Self-Defense

The idea of a film about Jesse Eisenberg learning karate as a means to affirm himself in an increasingly isolating world where he struggles to stem the tide of toxic masculinity is odd, on paper. When you add in the fact that The Art Of Self-Defense is actually a pitch black comedy and feels more like a tongue-in-cheek, but completely straight-faced Fight Club than something like We Need To Talk About Kevin, it gets even stranger.

The result, though, is an absolutely wonderful revelation. Eisenberg plays his accountant Casey Davies (cursed with "a girl's name") like what his earlier role Mark Zuckerberg might have been without the coding ingenuity. When he's beaten up indiscriminately by a motorcycle gang, he turns to a karate class to reclaim his identity.

The tone is the most rewarding (aside for great performances by Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and particularly Alessandro Nivola) as it's an absurdist farce told with such seriousness that it's utterly hysterical.

[SG]