The Art of Self-Defense gets dark comedy right thanks to Jesse Eisenberg’s performance

  • 📰 nationalpost
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 50 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 23%
  • Publisher: 80%

Entertainment Entertainment Headlines News

Entertainment Entertainment Latest News,Entertainment Entertainment Headlines

The Art of Self-Defense gets dark comedy right thanks to Jesse Eisenberg's performance via nparts

Dark comedy is probably the hardest cinematic genre to deliver successfully. With science-fiction, you can sometimes skate by on technology; with a western, on horses. But the dark comedy requires precise balance and timing; it’s like hard-boiling an egg while juggling lemons.

When we first meet Eisenberg’s milquetoast character, Casey, he’s learning French by practicing such phrases as “I don’t want any trouble; I’m just a tourist.” His workmates don’t respect him. Even his answering machine gives him sass: “You have only one unheard message,” it informs him. “No one else left you a message.”

Casey gets mugged one night while out buying dog food for his Dachshund, by a motorcycle thief who has the good sense to first ask if he’s carrying a gun. There may be an anti-gun message lurking in the script, or perhaps it’s pro-gun; the comedy was so dark it was hard to make out the morality. Casey throws himself into his studies, quickly moves from a white belt to a yellow, and celebrates by buying all-yellow food that night. Sensei reminds his students that the dojo’s former grand master wore a rainbow belt, a designation above black that he created and then bestowed on himself. He was killed by a hunter who mistook him for a bird.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 10. in ENTERTAİNMENT

Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Review: The Art of Self-Defense earns its black beltRiley Stearns’s black comedy naturally evokes Fight Club with its tale of a meek, dachshund-owning accountant poisoned by toxic masculinity
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »

Review: The Art of Self-Defense earns its black beltRiley Stearns’s black comedy naturally evokes Fight Club with its tale of a meek, dachshund-owning accountant poisoned by toxic masculinity
Source: globeandmail - 🏆 5. / 92 Read more »