BANKSY’S EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP MINI REVIEW

Finally got round to seeing Exit Through The Gift Shop and it lived up to its billing.

Floating around three central characters; video addict/artist Thierry Guetta, an LA-based Frenchman who moves from being behind a shop counter to being (permanently) behind a camera before becoming Mr Brainwash (MBW); Banksy and Shepard Fairey. The film begins describing how Guetta picks up a camera and ends up documenting the street-art scene and how that leads to him building a rapport with Bansky and finally the launch of his artistic career (sic.) as MBW.

Kind of like Hustle but stripped back with a Who’s Been Framed DIY quality, the magic of this film is that those who have made it are experts in the dark arts of deception and myth making.

You leave the film, entertained but full of questions. Is MBW, with his appropriation of familiar/tired pop culture signifiers, the logical conclusion for street art? Possibly.

Is it an essay on how empty modern art is and a way of demonstrating that if the art establishment catches a whiff of hype and excitement then it can almost force feed people to suggest that (in this case Guetta’s) show has artistic credibility and vision? I’d hazard a guess, yes. Indeed the shot of a deadpan Shepard Fairey as he responds to the gawd-awful art he is seeing at the MBW exhibition is cinematic gold.

Is the film, as the opening credits highlight, a demonstration that those in the street-art game have a genuine motivation for their art and enjoy taking risks and retain a healthy prankster mentality? Most definitely.

This film isn’t what you expect and is hugely beguiling. Two ink stained thumbs up!

Filed under: Film, Film Review, Reviews, Street Art by J.G.