thomas4cinema

A French …. er … person hangs out in Los Angeles, gets bored with selling clothes, starts filming every aspect of his life, gets involved with street artists, and becomes one himself. While he originally intended to make a documentary about street art guru Banksy, at the end of the day Banksy makes a film about Thierry’s odd career.

The film is great in depicting fascinating works of art, not just from Banksy, but also from a range of other supposedly well-known artists (or “vandals”, whichever position you take) such as Shepard Fairey or Invader. I have no interest whatsoever in the debate about whether or not what these guys are doing is art, what is see is highly creative, sometimes funny, often stupid, but mostly hilarious and very marketable in a way pop art is supposed to be.It seems they certainly sold enough to make the sheer task of putting together one exhibition was worth the effort.

Whether the story told in this film is real is yet another question hard to mull over. Yes, it is certainly true, because this is the way it is depicted by a film, which always is a lie the same way a photograph is. It seems all the persons exist, it seems all the objects exist. Is Thierry  the goofy Frenchman himself an object of art, created my the mastermind that goes under the name of Banksy? Maybe, I would even say probably, but it’s perfectly possible to enjoy “Exit through the Gift Shop” without giving a damn.

Banksy’s website with some nice pictures of his work that you can freely download and use for non-commercial purpose: http://www.banksy.co.uk/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exit_through_the_gift_shop/

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100428/REVIEWS/100429978