dromasca
Banksy is a mystery as artist and person, and 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' does not aim and will not disperse the secret of his identity. It adds however more light on the origins of the street art genre and develops the documentary genre towards a direction that is both unexpected and rewarding for the viewers, whatever their opinions on this phenomenon may be.The basic rule of street art is that there are no rules. This film tries to follow this. The principal character starts as a video camera addict (and there is a good reason for his addiction) named Thierry Guetta who at some point discovers street art and starts filming the fringe individuals who make street art during their night escapades. He gets to know some of the most famous ones, including the secretive Bristol-based Banksy. At some point he becomes more and more involved with his subjects, he abandons his bourgeois commercial profession, and street art becomes a way of life. Crossing the border between documenting street art and becoming a street artist comes next, and by the end of the film we see Thierry Guetta having become Mr. Brainwash, a successful artist cashing well on his products, while Banksy has become the maker of the film about him.The very surprising turnaround makes out of the film a strange hybrid, a documentary where the lines between authors and subjects are blown up, with characters that claim to be real but defy common logic and would risk to be considered 'non-credible' in a fiction film. There is also a rather deep subtext and question marks about art and its value, about where street art belongs, about fighting commercial art and becoming successful and rich by selling counter-art. It's difficult to put it in a box, but this is the case with street art in general. More than anything however, I found this film fun to watch.
ironhorse_iv
Once, nominated for Best Documentary in the 2011 Academy Awards. This documentary is one of the strangest documentaries, I watch, in a long time. It's surprising that this film got even made. The film's editors had to sit through over 10,000 hours of tapes just to get a few minutes' worth of usable footage. While, the movie says, it was filmed by mysterious graffiti artist, Banksy; most of the filming seem to come from an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker, named Thierry Guetta who transform himself, from an Average Joe into a semi well-known street artist named Mr. Brainwash, in which, this movie covers. However, there has been much speculation, in Thierry's quick artistic metamorphosis evolution that a lot of people, doubt the particularly with regards to authorship and authenticity within the art of this film. Many people believe, that this film was just an elaborate ruse on Banksy's part to cover up that Thierry Guetta is not the artist of his own work, but it was the director that did it, all. It could be, true. After all, Mr. Brainwash's works seem to carbon copy emulate the styles and concepts of Banksy. Plus, there has been some strong speculated that Mr. Brainwash is just another pseudonym outlet for Banksy who remain, very much hidden from the public eye. It has been stated that the reason for this secrecy is that graffiti is a still a crime. Also, since, America has a bigger art market than United Kingdom, but has harsher laws; he would make sense, that Banksy would use, an elaborate public surrogate, just in case, if things go bad, over there. Some suggest, that famous artists, Shepard Fairey and Banksy have been artificially inflating the sales of Mr. Brainwash's work for their own gain. According to some critics, Mr. Brainwash's work hasn't sold as well on independent forums, and I do somewhat believe them. Who knows, if any of this, things are true or not. In the end, it doesn't really matter, to me, because, in my opinion, 'Exit through the Gift Shop' is still entertaining enough, not to care. However, I do believe that the film, portrays Thierry Guetta such a negative light, that it's kinda damaging to the point that many people couldn't take him seriously. He's portray as a mental unbalance comical tool here, rather than a creative artist. I know, Guetta's unhealthy obsession of filming everything is a bit disturbing, but his 2006's short film, Life Remote Control isn't that horrible. Don't get me wrong, it's bad, but it at least, isn't as bad, as the street artists, make it out to be. In my opinion, Guetta still, has some semi-good creatively ideas, when it came to art. Guetta's uniformly subversive pop-art style isn't that amateurism as it looks. So, it was a bit mean-spirited for other street artists to think, they're so much superior to him, and lampoon him, like that. That's one thing, I hate about this film. Everybody in the film acts so pretentious and snobby, when it comes to art. It's such a turn off. However, for the most part, the movie paint the graffiti artists in a good light. Still, I wish, the movie tackle, more of the bad side of graffiti artists as well, as a couther argument. Not all graffiti artist paint their art on abandoned buildings or obvious bland-looking public structure like the movie does for safety reasons. Some, do publicity deface, public property, such as corporate & government building, as a way to promote anarchy and chaos. These acts, can be seem, as disrupted, from the social norms. Others, really go out of their way to vandal, public place used as memorials or worship, as a way to promote hate and discrimination. Other do it, as a way to troll, the public audience, by showcasing hateful or too vulgar or distasteful. Me, personally, I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to those type of graffiti. I do understand, how all graffiti can be represent as art. I can understand, how this type of art, could be misinterpreted and misrepresented by the mainstream media, as gang tagging, or offensive defacement, but there are some truly some artwork isn't that appealing to the eyes, nor wanted. These are it! This can barely be, represented as art. I think, anybody who is a respected graffiti artist can understand, why certain places shouldn't be defacement, by art. After all, I really doubt, that they're willing to have, their own house, graffiti by somebody else. It's way too expensive to clean. I do have to say, I really didn't like that part of the film. Another is the scene where Banksy puts a mannequin dressed like a Guantanamo Bay detainee in the middle of Disneyland. Honestly, what does Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad have to with a Guantanamo Bay detainee? I really don't get that message. How is that art? I would, really be mad, if I was, riding that ride, and they close the park, because of that stupid publicity stunt. I would ask, Banksy to repay me for the time, lose. Overall: Graffiti is seen as art to some people and as vandalism to others. It is all based on perspective. As a film, the movie was very interesting. Lots of twist and turns, make this film, a great watch. The future of graffiti looks bright even with all the negative influences it has on it. This film is worth checking out.
