The Subtle Art is a documentary based on a book that I haven’t read (if it helps, I did read “On Bullshit” which seems to be in the same ballpark as far as marketing goes). It’s basic philosophy is that we are not individually special and the sooner we acknowledge that unhappiness and misery can lead to happiness via struggle and that a state of perpetual happiness is a fantasy, the better off we’ll be. There’s more to it than that.

While I find the ideas and philosophies espoused to be somewhat persuasive in that I kind of agree with some of it already, I’m not sure if it’s going to sway anyone not already on the fence (or those who are actively appalled by his ideas). I know some people like who he’s talking about who would be so nestled into the coconut shell of ego, they wouldn’t watch this in the first place and then wouldn’t be self-aware enough to wonder if he was talking about them.

Sometimes the messaging feels really basic and arguable… and sometimes he’s just repackaged messaging already out there in the world. Like maybe he just watched Fight Club too many times and Brad Pitt’s “You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world” got stuck in his head. Or, you know, that “most men live lives of quiet desperation” or life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”. To be fair though, he’s not ending the sentence on these pessimistic attitudes… his point is that, one you realize it, then you can choose not to give a fuck about it. Fair enough.

Anyhow, I’m a little on-the-fence as to the value and message of this doc, but I certainly found it watchable and interesting. Sitting there judging this guy for telling us that he was a self-entitled jerk in this 20s… and wondering if much has actually changed for him. I’m on the fence… but I certainly watched it with interest.

Score: 82