Not so subtle whatsoever, this Nathan Price-directed piece is an obsessively poor film. Basing itself on the rise of the pop-science-styled self-help genre of reading, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck appears to not give one about quality or audience either. That pop rise in acclimatising life to the few hundred pages offered up by unqualified people who disperse information as though their word is gospel is redundant as all it does is provide a guide for people who believe they are all that matters. Those are usually the worst people, primarily because they believe they should have their work adapted into a feature film. “You are going to die,” this feature reminds us, and from there, the obsession with behaving like a degenerate is a simple end to reach.
Nonsense philosophy peddled as a bright orange book, now adapted to something that is meant to showcase futility and a rewarding way to live life to its fullest. The key to life is not self-improvement and development, but Mark Manson gives a horrible notation of his own values. He does not care for the outside world, only himself. Doing so lacks the development of the brain, growth as a person and a fundamental disregard for things, people, places and events. To live that way is boring. Manson does not appear to have realised that the very rejection seen so constantly throughout this piece is just a fancy way of living in fear. Pathetic.
Horrible stock footage that highlights how poor a writer Manson is more than anything. His interjections so constantly remind the audience how poor a time it is for the rise of the self-imposed influencer. Manson is keen to bully those whose Instagram feeds show said development, but at the same time offers up nothing but his own snooty development on the screen, as if he is the benchmark of quality living. His notoriously unexceptional American way is as grating as it is easy to hate. Manson projects himself as the centre of the universe, living like that is just ego, not, as he calls it, subtle. Double rainbow clips, moments sliced and cut from popular segments of the internet come and go with perplexingly poor meaning in this documentary on Manson’s life. It would have been, at the very least, humorous, had Adam Curtis been trying to piece it together.
Make no mistake, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck inherits the title and the philosophy behind it. It is why it is so reprehensible, dull and lacking in quality. Manson makes the mistake of thinking his process is unique. He is little more than a grifter that has turned muted tones and blank expressions into something that people perceive as being switched off from the real world. It is ineffectual, poorly chosen examples of his work that marks this documentary as a constant barrage of contempt. Manson is a snide fool who has managed to peddle a book and now a documentary with stock footage, inarticulate ramblings on how people should live when all he is doing is shrugging his shoulders at tragedy and asking “why should I care?”. Not so subtle, not so interesting. A documentary for fundamentally stupid people, helmed by a moron. Still, Manson probably won’t give a fuck.
