The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%!

He spoke of how his life was turned upside down by an incident at school and how his parents broke up but didn't see any correlation with his own actions. He spoke of his best friend who lived a "dream life" that was entirely false but failed to understand the guy was just a classic psychopath and not a role model. He spoke how he used to be shallow and self centred but now here he is in a film dedicated to his world view featuring no-one but himself. I totally agree with this main point that it's foolish to compare yourself with what's found on YT etc but I found the the guy himself quite sad.

A drawn out monologue that fails to engage with anything philosophical, responding only to anecdotes.

It's odd that this philosophy only works with numerical identifiers of success. There is no sense of inner fulfilment, no enjoyment from the attempt of trying something new. You can only be good or bad at something.

It's both critical of late stage capitalism and completely complicit. Perhaps justifying flogging these books.

Mark Manson loves the use of binary, there is little to no room for nuance & balance. Promoting a circular philosophy that can only lead to self-pity & loathing.

I'd offer this binary: watch this or speak to someone outside a club at 3am.

Manson tries to convey to us practical wisdom from his life and the modern era that is controversial and confusing.

His narrative is one of first world drama where he discovers himself. It's okay, but not very well thought out or scientifically backed. I think one would do much better watching an Alain de Botton TED Talk.

True some ideas are better placed in a motion picture narrative. Here the Director has used a mixture of 1980s BBC clips and B-grade acting scenes. It just hasn't cut the mustard for this critical reviewer.

For a better experience I'd suggest 'Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness' (2020)

Reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@% as a 25-year-old self-help junkie and a fan of counterculture I found the book amazing. It was self-help disguised as something better than personal development. It was beyond that. Rooting in ancient Buddhist philosophies, fueled with great present-day stories like the one about Metallica (that thing just hits me every time).

Fast-forward seven years. It's cold Saturday night. Snows. I've had a long day at work and coming home I browse new rentals eventually finding this piece. No need to check the trailer, I know it's going to be a good trip.

Boy was I wrong. It's a sad video essay about Mark's trauma caused by his drug use which eventually led to his parents' divorce. He discusses the concept of entitlement and fake reality portrayed on social media - but then shows his own travel photos narrated with stories about douchebags (including himself) with a tone that displays nothing but entitlement. The delivery of these stories is so dull that not even the great graphics help with the boredom those one-dimensional and scattered diary entries cause in the viewer. It's a tone of a person who feels their experiences and observations to be inherently interesting, without putting effort into crafting their public speaking or storytelling. Awkward laughter after talking proudly about ones encounters with women while simultaneously realizing that no one really gives a #@%!

Manson has stated earlier that behind his blog and books is a huge team of researchers. That's why the posts are always spot on with many interesting details. I believe like they weren't involved with this film, and I feel slightly betrayed.

In the theme of the documentary, accepting that your life is going to suck, I finished almost the whole film trying to observe if it's the film or me that sucks. I received the results, and I can tell you it wasn't me.

On the other hand, Mark shows in a sad way that what he preaches is true - he's not special.

I didn't want to give this a bad review.

In 2019, I was going through one of the hardest times in my life and reading The Subtle Art was one of the few things that really helped me come to terms and .

I will say that the film does do well to carry all of the witty cynicisms over from the book,. And I can hand pick a few a new additions I did enjoy that do stop this from going lower than a 3/10.

That said, without enough focus on the reasons and purposes for us hearing these anecdotes, it just becomes a disorganised mess that, if you've not read the book, just sounds like someone saying "you're not special" without the "but that's okay" to follow it up with.

The 'self help' part of this 'counter intuitive self help documentary' was heavily glossed over and massively lost a lot of the appeal that caused the books warranted success. Maybe it's just that the genre doesn't translate successfully into this media, but overall, very disappointed.

My advise to anyone reading this review; pop on the audiobook and watch a 10 hour YouTube video of cats or something. You'll have a much better experience,