Country:
USA/U.K
Recognizable Faces:
Banksy
Shepard Fairey
Thierry Guetta
Directed by:
Banksy
Yes, you heard me right, Banksy himself descended from his throne of anonymity to grace mankind with a movie about his art? Hem...not exactly. Nothing is straightforward and nothing is what is seems when the master of underground art decides to make something mainstream like a movie.
If you're looking to see Banksy unmasked and having a heartfelt discussion about the body of his work, you're not looking at the right place. If you're looking for a crazy over-the-top story and some of the best narrative non-fiction since Hunter S. Thompson, the legendary street artist has something out of the ordinary to offer you.
Storytelling:
Exit Through The Gift Shop is not a film on Banksy and technically not a film about anyone in particular. It's a movie about street art, made by the pioneers of the genre such as Space Invader, Shepard Fairey, Banksy and Mr. Brain Wash. It's Brain Wash or Thierry Guetta (his real name)that has filmed most of the footage behind the documentary. He got into street art while looking for something interesting to film. He was following a friend who stamped some Space Invaders tiles all over town and fell into the world of street art like Alice in the rabbit hole.
In this world, the alpha dog of the pack is a bloke named Banksy. He's a larger-than-life, smart, creative and dangerously clever fellow with a taste for break-neck stunts like placing his own paintings in the Louvre. Guetta starts making an obsession over Banksy, finds him and starts filming. When asked to complete the documentary, Guetta hands the Brit an unwatchable piece of crap named Life: Remote Control. Banksy then decides to ask Guetta to become an artist and he would become the filmmaker.
Banksy takes control of the movie during the later part and chronicles the astounding rise to the top of Mr. Brain Wash, Guetta's new artist name. For a documentary, I found the subject and the way it was brought a lot more creative and amusing that most mainstream Hollywood movies.
Direction:
The level of direction is incredibly high for a first timer. Banksy uses Guetta's footage in order to create the characters of the story that would become his own. On top of this there is a British narrator, which I believe to be the same guy that narrates the tutorial of Playstation 3 game Little Big Planet.
Through smart editing and crafty storytelling skills, Banksy makes the storyline slide into his hands like a coin in the hands of a magician. At all time, he remains amusing, playful and very accurate on his account of the situation. Never, the street artists are portrayed in a light other than being selfless entertainers.
Acting:
They are not REALLY actors. All of the people in Exit Through The Gift Shop exist in real life, and are (I hope) as cool as they show in the movie. There's an intimate portrait of everyone of them, but they remain into the spotlight as a tightly knit brotherhood.
Interest:
There will be plenty of fun watching and re-watching these creative juggernauts create mayhem in the streets around the world. More than that, Banksy keeps making the most out of his mythical status, floating over that movie like a puppet master that every other character looks up to. Exit Through The Gift Shop would've made a tremendous fiction movie, but what makes it even greater is that it's a 100% real. See it.
Note: A
