Exit Through the Gift Shop review

Question: have you heard of this film "Exit Through the Gift Shop"? If the answer is no then I'm not at all surprised and I'd highly advise you to head to youtube or imdb or whatever and take a look at the trailer and the reactions it's been getting from viewers. If you the answer to the question is yes, but you haven't seen it, then I'd advise you to find a fucking way to see it and pronto.

"Exit Through the Gift Shop" is a documentary directed by Banksy, a well known UK street artist that has widely expanded his particular brand of artistic, politic satire across the globe. And while the film is made by him its main focus is actually on a somewhat cartoonish and never dull frenchmen named Thierry Guetta. Thierry for several years has lived with a camcorder stuck to his hand. Everywhere he went, everything he did... was recorded. It wasn't until he met a street artist named Space Invader (made popular for replicating 8-bit characters on streets using discarded rubix cube pieces) that all his filming began to have a direction. From then on Thierry was hooked to the world of street art and through Invader was able to meet dozens upon dozens of other creative and mesmerizing artists.

However the question must be asked... why was he filming them? What was the purpose of it all; the end result? No one knew. Thierry didn't even know. But that didn't keep him from filming everything in sight. Eventually all Thierry's filming of artists came to a head when he wanted to meet the infamous Banksy, who is still a man of mystery. But by luck of the draw they did meet and became friends after a few quite rough, but rewarding events. Most of what they show and discuss is pretty hairy stuff and actually makes from some intense, tension filled sequences to the picture. Other encounters are quite humorous and light hearted, but help to really see a little bit more what these artists are really like.

I refuse to spoil much else about the whole film because it's best seen than heard about. I will say that by the end of the film your opinion on Thierry may change and you will question how sane or flat out insane of a man he really is. But not everything hinges solely on the very fucking interesting story of this man. It's also the best account of the world of street artists. Really in the 2000's it's been hard to identify what the counter-culture is. It's been pin pointed easily anywhere from the 50's thru the 90's... but now the lines have become quite blurred. Some might suggest that hipsters are the current counter-culture, but I highly disagree. My thought is the world 'culture' means more than shopping at thrift stores, smoking cloves and drinking cheap ass beer while sportin' an 'I'm-better-than-you' attitude. They're simply a more fashionable slacker. So I would identify the new wave of graffiti artists as that counter-culture. Guerrilla art that often is satirical of world happenings, the media and other hot button topics or concepts. Plus a lot of it looks cool.

"Exit Through the Gift Shop" has a little bit of everything I love seeing at the movies. Not just in documentaries, but films in general. The characters, the humanity, the realistic humor, the tension, the stories and the experience of seeing something new and creative. As it stands right now this may be my favorite film of 2010; it has all the energy and creativity of any big brand film out right now. I urge you all to see this film.