20 Best Movies Of 2019

13. The Art Of Self-Defense

Next to some of the other movies on this list, this smaller scale, pitch-black absurdist comedy is definitely an underdog, but it absolutely deserves its billing here.

The idea of a film following an incel-like Jesse Eisenberg learning karate as a means to affirm his masculinity and identity in an increasingly isolating world is odd, on paper. But the decision to make it something like a comedy take-down of Fight Club was its greatest move and the result is wonderful.

Eisenberg plays accountant Casey Davies as if he's Mark Zuckerberg without his ability with computers. He's a loser, beaten up for apparently no reason who takes to underground karate to find his place and everything unravels in delightfully farcical ways. Eisenberg is great, but so too are Imogen Poots and PARTICULARLY Alessandro Nivola as his swaggering dojo-leader.