Screening: Exit Through the Giftshop

I got to see Exit Through the Gift Shop last night as part of an Austin Film Society screening, and its definitely worth going to (it comes out this weekend). I went in with a lot of preconceived ideas about it, because of the discussion we had in class. I’m still not sure if it is “real” or not, but it is certainly entertaining. It’s clear that Banksy had a lot to do with the production, because the film is very much about making him look good.

The story is that Theirry Guetta, who loves to film, gets in with the rising movement of street art because his cousin is an artist. He films everyone he can find who makes street art, and finally meets and becomes friends with Banksy, an elusive but incredible famous street artist. All the time he’s filming, he has no intention of actually doing anything with the footage, but just throws it in a box, often unlabeled. Finally Banksy pushes him to produce a documentary about the movement, but the film he comes up with is horrible. So Banksy takes over, and encourages Thierry to make his own street art for a while. Thierry not only makes his own art, but puts on an outrageously massive show, hiring artists to basically mass produce his ideas, which are already mostly just copies of other people’s work. Through his connections to the street art scene, Thierry gets great publicity for the show, and throngs of people come out to see and buy the art – he makes over a million dollars in a matter of days. The street artists that he has been filming are appalled, and they regret their involvement with him.

What the film really seems to be is a statement about how ridiculous and undiscerning the art world can be, but its hard to tell if Banksy sees how big of a part he plays in that. He is a street artist by night, but on display in galleries during the day, and his work sells for incredible amounts. The difference between Bansky and Thierry is mainly in motivations, and the amount of time they devote to their craft. Banksy has clear political motives for most of his work, and Thierry’s seems to just be mass producing whatever is the most outrageous or trendy image he can find. In the end though, they are both creating a buzz around their own work that leads to profit.

And that’s ultimately what I felt like this movie was – more buzz for Banksy. The use of shadows and blur to hide his face at all times enhances his mysterious persona, and the juxtaposition of the “sell out” street artist with Banksy’s own highly charged political motivations make him the more likeable character. Also, some scenes just don’t seem plausible. For example, sometimes we actually see Thierry filming, instead of just seeing his footage, meaning another person was there with a camera. For a group of people who are supposedly very covert to have two filmmakers following them out at night seems a little unlikely, unless they knew they were going to be making this film.

I’ll be interested to read more reviews of the film as they come out, and see what other people think about the real motivation behind it. It was definitely worth watching though. It had a great story line and some really funny moments, and I learned a lot about the street art movement.