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Gareth Crook

Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things (2015)

Updated: Jul 31, 2019

A film that sadly doesn’t practice what it preaches. Whilst I agree with a lot of this and definitely see the appeal of a minimal lifestyle, the two guys (Josh & Ryan) telling this, their story are quite annoying, in a slightly pushy self help kinda way. Commercialism is certainly a problem though to my mind, we accumulate and consume far too much, partly through habit and mostly through advertising. Thankfully though, it’s not all Josh & Ryan, there are lots of interesting stories here, from quite full-on almost ‘off grid’ approaches to simpler smaller reductions and there’s some cool and thought provoking stuff shared. It’s American focused (isn’t everything) and the driver is not only a holistic one, but unsurprisingly an economic need. The tiny house idea is wonderful and made me feel quite uncomfortable truth be told, but I’d have been happier if this documentary had more focus on the functionality of minimalism and less a puff piece for Josh & Ryan who ultimately made it feel ironically bloated. 8/10 for the idea, but for the execution...

5/10


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