The Art of Self-Defense

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🎙️ EPISODE 252: 03.11.20 Like Napoleon Dynamite but with some pretty hardcore violence, and I'm not sure such a thing can or is supposed to exist? There are certain lines of dialogue that made me cringe, not so much from the awkward delivery but from the thought of them being forced onto the page in the first place. What irks me even more is that there is a wonderful movie and message about toxic masculinity trying to break through. And an intriguing framework (in the form of what might be a little too obvious but nonetheless engaging, circular plot arc) is also in place. The failure here is 100% tonal. A black comedy still needs to have, you know, COMEDY. Jesse Eisenberg is fine in this version of his nervous white male, ratcheted up to new heights even. Alessandro Nivola is more than fine as the suspiciously cool sensei. That all the moving pieces don't ever fully come together is frustrating but when viewed as a total farce the film isn't bad. The parasitic relationship between fear and violence is a fascinating concept.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 251 - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 253 ⫸

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