The Art of Self-Defense

The Art of Self-Defense (2019) is a deadpan dark comedy thriller you can watch online on iFILM. Director Riley Stearns drops timid accountant Casey, played by Jesse Eisenberg, into a local karate dojo after a random beating leaves him scared of his own neighborhood.

The Sensei, an unsettlingly calm Alessandro Nivola, runs more than a class. It's a cult of toughness, where kindness reads as weakness and aggression earns rank. Casey rebuilds his whole life around the rules: louder music, a meaner dog, a sharper tongue at the office. Anna (Imogen Poots), the only woman on the mat, fights twice as hard for a belt the men keep denying her. The deeper Casey goes, the more dangerous the dojo turns.

Stearns plays the absurdity straight, with characters speaking in a flat, manual-like cadence that makes the violence funny and queasy at once. It's a sharp jab at toxic masculinity and the men who mistake cruelty for strength. Stream The Art of Self-Defense (2019) online on iFILM.