David O'ConnellExit Through the Gift Shop
October 29th 2010 03:01
There’s a possibly murky grey area separating fact from fiction in Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary about the underground movement of street art. The film’s directorial credit is rather dubiously given to Banksy, a Bristol artist whose pranks have garnered him worldwide recognition. His true identity clouded by ambiguity, Banksy long remained a mythical figure for obsessive cameraman Thierry Guetta, a displaced Frenchman based in L.A, whose cousin, an artist known as Space Invader, sparked an interest in what became a rapidly growing counter-culture movement in the late 1990’s.
This is essentially the story of Guetta, a clothing store owner who rarely spent a waking moment without a video cam super-glued to his hand – no doubt annoying the hell out of his wife, and later, two children. He quickly became obsessed with documenting the nocturnal life of these artists who scour cities in search of ideal locations to record their presence through unique imprints. Gradually he works his way up the ladder of notoriety, earning the trust of more significant players like L.A’s Shepard Fairey, convincing everyone that his work will culminate in a definitive statement of the movement’s artistic merit.
But that elusive giant of the movement remains unspoken for: Banksy, the lone artist who remains beyond his reach. Predictably the cards fall Thierry’s way and circumstance divines a moment in which Banksy, arriving in L.A. requires an insider’s knowledge of fresh spots to make his mark. After ably assisting the always shrouded, voice-distorted Englishman pull off some of his more provocative stunts - all along assuring him too that a film will be extracted from the thousands of hours of footage he’s amassed – Guetta’s life takes an unexpected turn.
He decides to become an artist himself, employing the absurd moniker of Mr. Brainwash. Before you know it, this unlikely transformation leads to the unveiling of a convoluted installation that generates ridiculous levels of interest and culminates in a spectacular opening night in which patrons line up outside hours in advance.
How much of Guetta’s transformation is real? Or is his sudden fame a prank, an elaborately conceived gag meant to mock the willingness of the public to swallow the validity of, and pay exorbitant sums for, populist, mainstream conceptions of art? Regardless of its authenticity, the film certainly loses momentum and interest once the focus narrows down, almost exclusively, to Guetta and his own cause.
As a broader examination of street art and its most significant and influential figures, Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) - regardless of who its author really is - proves to be fascinating for the much of its length. But Guetta, despite his peculiarities and eccentricities – which involve a lot of vague replies when what we really crave are the finer details - isn’t quite as compelling a figure in his own right as his most famous subject, allowing some of the film's magnetism to evaporate.
Exit Through the Gift Shop has just been released on DVD by Madman Entertainment.
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Comment by Matt Shea
Having said that, I went into this reasonably cold and not knowing about the idea that it might be another one of Banksy's cleverly conceived pranks. I know a guy who works for the LA Times/Weekly - he went to the premiere and is faily positive that it's all legit.
The one thing I wasn't so enamoured with (although it doesn't bother me so much now that I think about it) was Rhys Ifans's arch narration. Otherwise, the strongest doco I've seen all year.
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic