Mark Mason's bestselling 2016 book has been adapted into the documentary The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A #@%! by New Zealand director Nathan Price, featuring the author himself in the role of presenter/narrator. 

 

The idea of watching a movie adaptation of a self help book felt more than a little odd to me on first hearing about the film. Having not read the book I knew nothing of what to expect beyond a kind of tone you might infer from the title. However, the result is a genuine, insightful and earnest encouragement of Mason's message to stop worrying about the things in life we can't control, but instead to choose the things that we can, and focus your days on those.

 

The film is structured with the chapter headings of the book, but rather than Manson just explaining the content of each chapter sequentially, he guides the viewer through anecdotes, personal experiences and observational experience to the salient points of each chapter.

​

Manson is a compelling story teller, with little pretense and a bunch of charisma that director Nathan Price builds upon to create an engaging experience through interspersing segments of animation, historical footage and reenactment into interviews with Manson. This serves overall to give The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A #@%! a genuine vibe, while also still being entertaining; which I imagine is no small feat for a film based upon a self-help book.

 

Who would have thought that a documentary based on a self help book could genuinely be an entertaining and rewarding experience? But here we are, and The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A #@%! is definitely recommended.