The Minimalists: Less Is Now

3 stars only for the people that had to listen to this BS being filmed because they had to put up with it. There are two narrators and the show ended up being more about them and less about the concept itself. Netflix is usually great with docs, but this one...smh! Whatever happened to just sit down and say what you have to say? The dialogues in this show felt very manufactured and artificial, with perfect pauses between words, great cinematic lighting and camera work. Sounded more like a fake TED talk minus substance. Missed opportunity. There are a few good quotes and if you take out everything else, this would be a 5-10 min documentary. Watch it when you're doing the dishes/cleaning.

This does not add any further value to their 2015 documentary. So by their own principle, this follow-up should not even have been made.

Instead of delving into their personal journeys towards accumulation and subsequently minimalism, they could have done better by discussing the psychology behind accumulation. This was briefly mentioned as companies exploiting people's psychology to get them to buy things.

If they want people to do the reverse and turn towards minimalism, the obvious angle would have been to take a closer look at the vulnerability that causes people to compensate with accumulation. Basically they should have invited a psychologist to discuss Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Once our basic physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, i.e, food, water and shelter, people need a sense of love and belonging which then enables them to achieve self-esteem and ultimately self-actualisation. These are the needs that marketers exploit. So the question is not "How might life be better with less?", but "What is truly missing in my life that I have been trying to fill with stuff?".

This felt like a cheesy Hillsong sermon. Originally these guys came across as authentic, now they look and sound like influencers. The monologues we're bizarrely overproduced and I found myself tuning out repeatedly.

If you want to learn what minimalism is or how it can help you, you won't get this from this documentary. This feels like the rehash of the first one, and it's basically a retelling of the TED talk that you can find on YouTube. There is nearly nothing new of substance in here, unfortunately.

The documentary starts by selling us a premise of "you'll learn why less is more but for that, you need to learn our story first". But the fact is we never get past their story, I was listening through stories of Josh and Ryan and was waiting for the "actual documentary" to start. But it never starts.

It touches multiple issues, it feels like it lacks substance and direction. This is a documentary about Joshua and Ryan - not about minimalism, keep that in mind.

The camera work and the choice of secondary guests is great, and I wanted to see more of that and more of them. Josh and Ryan, despite being prominent figures in the minimalism scene, are not relatable for most viewers.

Unfortunately, the criticisms from the first document, are even truer in this one and both Josh and Ryan often feel like they are humble bragging their wealth, six figures, their cars, or houses and telling us how awesome it is when you decide not to have it. I believe they are honest and if I ever have as much as they - I will try to live within my means. It feels very pretentious.

While I understand the message - don't buy a BMW on credit if you can't afford it - most people don't have the luxury of NOT taking debt to own a house or a flat.

If you wish to learn about minimalism: I highly recommend Matt D'Avella's YouTube channel (he is "behind the camera" in this one), the TED talk by The Minimalists or even the first documentary, not this one.

It's a shame to write this because I really like Matt D'Avella's Youtube channel and the first documentary, but I could hardly make it through this without turning it off. The 'minimalists' are painful to watch talking about their upbringing and doing these cringe-inducing monologues/poem-readings looking into the camera - it seems really self-centered to focus the documentary on them. I really wish this had featured Matt instead of Joshua and Ryan. I did enjoy the inclusion of Dave Ramsey and the woman from Greenpeace.