Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a film by Banksy, who is arguably the best known visual artist of our time. It presents the story of Thierry Guetta a French born Los Angeleno business owner who became obsessed with documenting every aspect of his life with a camcorder. Through a twist of fate he became the unofficial documentarian of the street art movement, and eventually Banksy. The documentary he produced with his material was unwatchable, prompting Banksy himself to take over and make the film we are now talking about with it, in the process changing the focus to Thierry himself. The film is in a way it's own making of documentary. It does this, and much bolder things without being anything but an immensely watchable film, with a well told story.

I feel that many of the reviews of Exit Through the Gift Shop Have focused on the question of whether it was a documentary, or a mocumentary or something else entirely. I have my own feelings about the validity of the film, but I won't go into that here except to say that it doesn't really matter. The story is so well told, and the finer points of what it is trying to say are just as powerful if it is entirely true, entirely fabricated, or somewhere in between. I left the theatre feeling that I needed to know if the story was true right away, but I think I would be happy if I never knew for sure.

This is the first film by Banksy, and who knows if he will ever make another, but he certainly arrived to the world of filmmaking with a voice as unique and indelible as the one he established in the visual arts. He takes on the issues plaguing the art world (namely commercialism, commodification, and stupid people) in an incredibly funny honest way, which is made all the better if it turns out he is telling lies the whole time. I feel like this film would go well with F for Fake by Orson Welles, which is high praise I don't think I'll regret giving (also everyone should go rent F for Fake, it's amazing).

Bottom Line: Like all of Banksy's art this film is incredibly original and layered, while being populist in that it is easily digested and understood. It gives you a lot to think about without trying to be smarter than you, a film that is intelligent and opens it's doors to the world and says 'come on in, we've got some things to laugh about'. I can't wait to see what Banksy comes up with for his Oscar acceptance speech.