Underrated Gems: The Art of Self-Defense

    Welcome everyone, to the first installment of the new section of the blog Underrated Gems. Here is where I'll review movies that came out but didn't get enough people to watch them. Thus making them underrated. So let's start with talking about The Art of Self-Defense. 

    With most movies that pique my interest, I was sitting down watching the previews before Long Shot started and the trailer for this one popped in. Give it a few weeks and I've decided to take a look at it at my theater. When I walked in, there was me and from what I can remember five or six open minded viewers sitting. 

    

    So the film stars Jesse Eisenberg as the mild worker Casey. He gets beaten up by a group of a motorbike gang. After feeling dejected, he signs up at a Karate gym to learn how to defend himself. As he stays longer, he realizes the dark secret the gym has been hiding. 

    The film is a comedic one. Though not where they tell a joke and you're immediately knocked off your seat. It's a black comedy, meaning that it is a type of comedy that makes jokes about distressing or tragic subjects. For instance, one of Casey's classmates is asked by the sensei to help demonstrating a karate move. The sensei breaks his arm, that came out of nowhere and I wasn't expecting it.

    Aside from the comedic moments that made me chuckle for the wrong reasons. The film has masculine overtones that aren't subtle at all. Since the karate aspect is used as a stand in to be manly, I feel that it is the weakest point in the film. Like when the students strip and cool down with the class mates that is overtly homoerotic. 

     The whole karate aspect is used to make a point that to be a tough man, which is tied to toxic masculinity. One more example is during the beginning, Casey finds a magazine that has pages and ads for guns and women's breasts. Though my first though was where are the articles. Overall, I had no expectations when viewing this movie. It's a slow burn of a movie. Even though it clocks in at 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you have a chance, check it out, it deserves a following. 

    The Art of Self-Defense gets a four out of five.