After giving Leland Orser & Mary Elizabeth Winstead one of the most fascinating characters in the darkly comical cult drama “Faults,” Indie filmmaker Riley Stearns returns with The Art Of Self-Defense. The first trailer for “The Art Of Self-Defense” follows Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) who starts off as a bookkeeper getting attacked on one of his normal days. Following this weird sensation of not being able to defend himself, he joins a nearby karate studio so that he can learn to fight back. Bleecker Street – The production company handling Stearns latest Black-Comedy released a new trailer ahead of it’s July Release. The film also stars Alessandro Nivola and Imogen Poots in pivotal roles.
The official synopsis read: “After he’s attacked on the street at night by a roving motorcycle gang, timid bookkeeper Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) joins a neighborhood karate studio to learn how to protect himself. Under the watchful eye of a charismatic instructor, Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), and hardcore brown belt Anna (Imogen Poots), Casey gains a newfound sense of confidence for the first time in his life. But when he attends Sensei’s mysterious night classes, he discovers a sinister world of fraternity, brutality, and hyper-masculinity, presenting a journey that places him squarely in the sights of his enigmatic new mentor. Audacious and offbeat, The Art of Self-Defense is an original dark comedy that takes toxic masculinity to absurd extremes.”
After premiering at SXSW (South by Southwest) on March 10, 2019, the studio wishes to use Jesse Eisenberg popularity and sinister dark comedic troops to good use. John Fink of The Film Stage in his review of the film said that: “If Fight Club taught us one thing and one thing only it is to never underestimate the power of a bored single man with nothing to lose. And that is, in some ways, also the central thesis of Riley Stearns’ delightfully twisted The Art of Self-Defense, a pitch-black comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg as sad sack Casey, a lonely auditor who, in the film’s opening scene, is mocked at a distance in French by a couple.”
Watch the Trailer for The Art of Self-Defense Here:
