It’s a little difficult because Exit Through The Gift Shop is actually two movies in one…two movies that tell the same story. Have you ever seen some art on the street that was out of place? Maybe a stencil on the wall or a poster on the sidewalk? If so, you’ve had a glimpse of a rapidly growing style of modern art called Street Art. Exit Through the Gift Shop is a magnificent film which is a combination of brilliance, insanity, and luck…three words which also describers the not so main character of the story.
This film is commonly referred to as the Banksy film since apparently he made it. Banksy is one of the most popular and prominent artists in the street art movement. He’s an international man of mystery who posts his social commentary all over the world. You would think he would be the star of the film, but he’s only the focal point for a little while. The movie starts with him explaining that the movie was originally about street artists including him but he realized Thierry Guetta was a more interesting story.
Thierry is the reason this whole film was possible in the first place. He’s the kind of guy who couldn’t put the camera down. He would film anything that he saw or did and he stumbled upon the underground world of street art. His nephew is another popular street artist called Space Invader and he saw him preparing his art and followed him as he displayed it across the cities in France. From there, Thierry followed as many artists as he could find like Shepard Fairey (creator of the Obey stickers and popular Barack Obama Change poster) all around the world documenting their antics.
He told people that he was a filmmaker making a documentary about street art. However, for Thierry, after something was filmed, it was done. He just wanted to capture everything around him and then store the tapes never looking at them again. As the world changed and street art became more popular and commercialized, Banksy told Thierry now was the time to create his film and show the world what this movement was really about. However, this is when Banksy and everyone else learned that maybe Thierry wasn’t actually a filmmaker and maybe just some crazy guy with a camera.
The film is a great documentary that gives light to the little known world of street art. The mere fact that this footage exists of the beginnings of a cultural movement is amazing. The interviews with Banksy and other artists are hilarious and informative diving into their true thoughts and feelings which are most of the time just “whatever” attitudes. When the film turns on its face and becomes about Thierry instead of street art, you realize that Thierry goes through the same pattern that street art did. From creation to expression to explosion to exposure and finally consumed…for better or for worse. Banksy said he used to tell everyone that they should try and do art…he doesn’t really do that anymore.
Exit Through The Gift Shop will open in limited US cities within the next few weeks. You can find some advance screening passes here on advancescreenings.com!
Side Note: The same time I was watching this movie and writing the review, Banksy hit San Francisco! I’m not sure if it’s a marketing ploy and Banksy will be going to various cities where the movie is playing to promote it or if he just decided to visit. Either way, here’s some of the stuff he did here:
Banksy Hits San Francisco from Thomas Hawk's Flickr
Streets: Banksy in San Francisco (Part II) from Arrested Motion
Tags: Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, Thierry Guetta
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
