Visitors Review

(2012-05-26 02:26)

I'm captivated

This review is from: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (Amazon Instant Video) Not only is this film visually appealing, but it pokes at your brain. You get immersed in the world of Street Art, while climbing into the brain of Thierry Guetta, a man who personifies the insane genius. It makes me want to cut out an over-sized stencil, buy a case of spray paint, and climb onto some buildings. It makes me want to quit my job and pursue my passions.

(2012-05-25 08:58)

Is it real? Does it matter?

Exit Through the Gift Shop is an incredibly interesting film that begs the question that has been asked millions of times over again: what is art? *sips lattè* *adjusts glasses* The movie starts out as one man's (Thierry Guetta) habit of always carrying a video camera and filming everything around him. He soon accidentally stumbles upon the growing and subversive (an underground word for `underground') world of street art. This habit of his turns into an obsession, as he begins to constantly follow these artists around at night to capture this somewhat mysterious world. One of the reasons these artists allow him to film them is because street art is a very unique art form in that it is constantly being created and destroyed. When Guetta tells them that he is making a documentary about it, they look at this film as a way to actually preserve their art for once. There is a problem, however: Guetta isn't a filmmaker at all. In fact, he originally never intended on watching these tapes ever again. He was simply filming for the sake of filming. That is, until he had the opportunity to meet and follow around the most famous and elusive street artist of all time: Banksy. Part director, part watchdog, part instructor, Guetta gives us a glimpse into the world of a reclusive street artist whose work now sells for thousands of dollars at art shows across the world. And then things start to get interesting... and confusing.Though Guetta himself filmed most of the footage, it is Banksy who is in the director's chair for this film after he quickly realizes the original man behind the camera is far more interesting than any of the artists who were in front of it. What follows is a fascinating turn of events that culminates into something that is part documentary, part social commentary, and quite possibly part prank. Nonetheless, Exit Through the Gift Shop is an excellent film that makes you question the somewhat arbitrary line that has been drawn between art and vandalism, and how it is often times people's reaction to something that helps draw that line.

(2012-05-25 17:04)

Odd yet good.

I'll be brief. This movie was interesting and very engaging. I do not know whether or not it was sincere or meant as a "spoof". Either way, it's fun to watch even if you have no knowledge about street art, like myself =)

(2012-05-24 20:28)

Engaging, entertaining, and worth many a discussion after watching

This review is from: EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (Amazon Instant Video) My wife and I heard about Banksy some time ago and were actually anxious just to learn more about his craft and talent. Akin to the main theme of the movie, after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop I think we got what we were looking for, but not quite in the way we expected.The movie is divided pretty fairly into three equally entertaining sections. The first third introduces the protagonist, Thierry, and sets the background for his obsession with street artists. The middle portion of the movie introduces Banksy and follows the growth of his relationship with Thierry. The final act features Thierry almost exclusively, and while I was sure I knew where the film was going to end up, I found myself anxiously awaiting confirmation (incidentally, I couldn't have been more wrong).My favorite thing about this excellent film is the conversations it begets once the credits have rolled. Questions are raised about each of the film's featured artists and the art world in general that may not have clear answers, but are entertaining to discuss nonetheless. I appreciated that the film was willing to acknowledge that it didn't have the answers either, especially considering how difficult it must have been to not pretend otherwise.My wife and I may not agree about exactly what happened at the end of the film or why, but I think we can both agree on one thing after viewing: Banksy is much, much more talented than either of us originally thought (and we thought pretty highly of him before).

misterwunderfool (2012-05-24 07:14)

self-portrait

Theiry makes a documentary about himself. Theiry has a video camera a likes to take videos of everybody and everything, including himself.He takes an interest in grafitti art and artists and takes some candid videos of the world's most wanted graffitti artists at work, but blots out the criminals' faces.Inspired by grafitti art Theiry becomes a successful commercial pop artist himself.It's a self-indulgent home movie. Yet is is an art movie. An art movie about art and unconventional artists.Interesting. Different. Part story, part documentary, part home movie, part hooey.

ajs-10 (2012-05-23 09:17)

Enjoyable documentary from Banksy about Thierry Guetta...

This film by street artist Banksy tells the story of Thierry Guetta. Asa young man Thierry would film anything, it was an obsession with him.He is a Frenchman who lives in L.A. and one day, on a visit to France,his cousin is making some street art. This fascinates Thierry and hebegins to follow all kinds of street artists around L.A., Paris,anywhere he can find them, cataloguing their work and even helping outfrom time to time. And as he gets more and more into it, he becomesaware of an artist called Banksy, but Banksy is very elusive.Eventually they meet and Banksy lets Thierry film him at work,something those close to him are not too happy about. He is supposed tobe making a documentary about street art, but, if the truth be known,he's just filming… There is more to tell, but I don't want to give toomuch away here.Quite a fascinating film with Thierry as the central character. He doeseventually become a street artist and more, but I'll leave you to findout how that happens (assuming you're inspired to watch the film afterreading this). The majority of the footage was shot by Thierry onvideo, which gives a kind of grainy look to it, which I like. I wasquite intrigued at the beginning and some of the art on show is quiteextraordinary, but towards the end of the film I felt it was more aboutwhat Thierry did than about the art. Having said that, as a whole Iquite enjoyed it. Banksy is from my home town so it's always good tosee a home-town boy come good. If you like street art, Banksy, or evenif you're just intrigued, it's a worth-while watch… Recommended.My Score: 7.5/10.IMDb Score: 8.1/10 (based on 15,132 votes when this review waswritten).Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96/100 (based on 101 reviews counted when thisreview was written).

ValerieL (2012-05-16 00:15)

It was quite interesting.

Wasn't expecting the way this film played out, but it was decent. Wouldn't recommend to anyone unless I knew they were an artsy person. Fair.

(2012-05-15 07:11)

Hoax or Reality You Be the Judge

Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a film directed by Banksy that tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. The film charts Guetta's constant documenting of his every waking moment on film, from a chance encounter with his cousin, the artist Invader, to his introduction to a host of street artists with a focus on Shepard Fairey and Banksy, whose anonymity is preserved by obscuring his face and altering his voice, to Guetta's eventual fame as a street artist himself.Much has been hinted at that the film is actually a hoax but it was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary Feature. Banksy, the pseudonymous British street artist, has built his reputation on stunts -- like inserting his own work among the masters' in museums -- that taunted the market in which his pieces sold for millions. But with his latest project, the documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop," he is laboring to convince audiences that he's playing it straight.The blogs buzzed with rumours: that Mr Brainwash is nothing but a front for Banksy; even that he is Bansky. As the film picked up acclaim at Sundance and then Berlin, Mr Brainwash's career has taken off. If the film was intended as a satire on the superficiality of the contemporary art scene, the satire was going over the heads of the buyers forking out $50,000 to $200,000 a canvas. "It doesn't matter if he is good or bad," one said. "He has the right connections, and that's why I am buying. Plus, I like him."Ultimately, wondering whether "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is real or not may be moot. It certainly asks real questions: about the value of authenticity, financially and aesthetically; about what it means to be a superstar in a subculture built on shunning the mainstream; about how sensibly that culture judges, and monetizes, talent. No matter whether it is real or not it is well worth seeing. The BluRay edition that I screened featured some deleted scenes, Mr. Brainwash at the Cans Festival, a fourteen minute edit of Guetta's Life Remote Control and B Movie a film about Banksy.Check it out you'll be glad you did.

(2012-05-13 23:56)

Towards a New Cinema

Everyone knows that the distinction between fiction and non-fiction is a false dichotomy. They are two sides of the same coin and much of the most interesting recent cinema has attempted to address how and where they meet and intertwine. A camera in the room changes behavior, just what an actor ate for lunch affects their performance. It is time to do away with the old distinctions and embrace the new order. Though filmmakers on the margin have been doing this for sometime, Exit Through the Gift Shop has brought it right up to the fringe of the mainstream. Fact and fiction blend in Banksy's film about the art/street art world. The art world constructs and defines itself just as we construct and define our own realities and truths. Down with the cinema of facts! Onward with the cinema of truth!

(2012-05-13 15:03)

Not really about Banksy

If you are hoping for a film solely about Banksy and his work, this is not it. Banksy has only a small role in the documentary about another man that once followed Banksy around. It was still a good film.. just not what I was hoping for.

tedg (2012-05-12 19:24)

Mister Brainwash

A key insight for me is what I amusingly call Ted's law. In this, whenwe layer abstractions in art, the "distance" between layers is equal.This is a great example.The idea builds on the notion that humans alone are capable of seeingthemselves in the world as they see the world. It is how we defineconsciousness.Shakespeare started the notion of folding in art, where we add anotherlayer: we have us as audience, a state both we and the play (in thiscase the play) acknowledge. In the play, we have people in the samestate, an audience of sorts for the world of the movie. SinceShakespeare, we elaborate these folds because of the greater narrativepalette it affords, but the basic dynamics are analogic layers, folds.Ted's law holds that the relationship of abstraction establishedbetween the audience and the play is the same as that between theaudience and the play (or whatever) within.Banksy is an artist who works with this idea. His art almost alwaysconsists of two elements. One is chaotic, sloppy, copying (or adoptingexisting) graffiti, the vandalism sort. Superimposed on that is anobserver rendered in a different style. These are made from stencilsbut originate in and reference photographs. These are on the street, soan observer can see the people looking at the art, the character withinthe art, and some random "art" designated from previously would havebeen equivalent to trash.Frankly, this is a trivial idea because it is "small art." Small art isart designed to be consumed in the moment between the flipping of pagesin a magazine, or during commercials. It has to be attractive and easyto "read." On reflection, it has to have a simple explanation. Part ofthis is the supposition that it is art of the people, real, visceralart. For me, it is background noise. It cannot help me, shape me ordestroy me. That's a job for big, long form art.Okay, now the film. The idea is the same: we have the street art. We add another layer: thestory of the artists. We add yet another layer, the story of thefilmmaker covering the story of the artists, making the "observer art"that is superimposed on graffiti, which in turn is linked to us aspassers by. I do not suppose that this was designed by Banksy as aproject beforehand, because that assumes less spontaneity than headvertises. I suppose instead that the story is much as it ispresented: he fell into an opportunity and exploited it in the way heworks.The thing that has captured the imagination of the film public (and theAcademy) is the tantalizing prospect that some part is a hoax. Thisclearly is engineered, because a similar joke is behind his street art.But even that is small art.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

cheryllynecox-1 (2012-05-12 14:11)

Gotta Getta a Guetta

Like the very nature of the underground street art movement "ExitThrough the Gift Shop" feels fresh and almost subversive. It doesn'tmatter to me if it is a conceptualized mockumentary, or a genuineattempt to record the outsider reality experienced by brilliant streetartists like Shepard Fairey, Invader, and the infamous Banksy. "ExitThrough The Gift Shop" is mischievous and immediate in the same waythat street art is.Mainly we watch the evolution of Thierry Guetta from anobsessive-compulsive videographer to a successful popular artist whosestreet credibility is quickly parlayed into the show of shows. Guettatakes contemporary icons and gives them Warholian emphasis, so we see areinvention of Madonna, who once reinvented herself in a Marilyn-likeway, and who we later learn commissions Mister Brainwash (Guetta) todesign her cover art. Guetta's point-of-view is absolutely authentic inthe way it synthesizes and skewers popular culture. Or is it Banksy'spoint-of-view? It doesn't matter. It's brilliant, provocative,charming, and completely entertaining.

(2012-05-12 03:42)

Greater Appreciation for Street Art

There are three different stories going on here from what I recall. It's a pretty incredible documentary especially considering it all started by accident! Now, anytime I'm in a city admiring the graffiti I've got a new appreciation for it.

Gil O'Brien (2012-05-11 13:25)

You say tomato, I say tomato can of spray paint

The irony of "Exit" is that Banksy's claim that an artist needs time tohone his craft is totally debunked by his Academy Award nomination andIndie Spirit award win for his first film. Thierry has been filming allof his life and is still unable to put together a film that works.Banksy's jealousy of Mr. Brainwash's instant success is unwarranted dueto his own meteoric rise as a filmmaker.Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Thierry tapped into the Warholmovement and put his own spin on it. When art and commerce meet,marketing is what prevails. As far as Warhol's influence on MBW's workis concerned, Blek le Rat influenced Banksy. The role reversal in thismovie is brilliant. Banksy proved that an artist is an artist and cantriumph in multiple art forms. And Thierry proved that his quick hitartistic approach is better suited for individual "frames" as opposedto trying to convey a story using multiple frames in succession.

(2012-05-11 10:23)

Trading Places, Street Art Style

What starts off as a documentary about notorious London street artist/prankster Banksy doubles back on itself and becomes a documentary about the documentarion, one Thierry (Terry) Guetta. Thierry is a Frenchman who emigrated to Los Angeles and started a used clothing shop. He also has some sort of weird Obsessive/Compulsive disorder with video-recording every waking moment he possibly can. Somewhere in the camera era of Thierry's life, he becomes obsessed by street/graffiti artists and begins to tape them and their nocturnal activities. As he climbs the strata of artists, he eventually encounters Banksy. Voila! A film is born.Only one problem. Turns out Thierry is a complete dud as a filmmaker and Banksy takes over the tapes and editing. This is where the film gets interesting. After watching Banksy throw a huge and profitable opening in Los Angeles, Thierry takes Banksy's offhand comment about creativity (Thierry has developed some street art and a personna of his own) to mean that Banksy is approving of Thierry's work and should become the next big name in the artist community. Before you can say 'spray paint,' Thierry is overhauling an old network studio and planning his own, major coming out exhibit. The question is, can art be made just by sheer force of will? Thierry seems like such a savant that his ascension into a world-class artist seems hard to swallow. Even the artists he was filming on his camera seem dumbstruck that this "character from the 1860's" could launch himself without much experience; there are some who believe the whole "Mister Brain Wash" (as Thierry has now dubbed himself) is one of Banksy's elaborate pranks on the creative universe. That's not to say the film is without entertainment value. Thierry is, despite his loopiness, a charming eccentric; his own determination to hype himself into a success supplies "Exit Through The Gift Shop" with humor and interest. The gray area the film treads between creativity, hype and scam is so blurry that the DVD becomes its own circular argument, and a heck of a lot of fun.

anthropologistcarl (2012-05-11 00:51)

This is one of the rare films I say is best seen blind, do your due diligence later!

Talk about a social commentary! Banksy achieves a triumph with ExitThrough the Gift Shop. I rank this movie and Banksy's ongoing profit,to be paired with the historically based BBC documentary, "The Centuaryof Self." This film is one of the best documentaries to expose thetimes we are in. It has it all; passion, genius, madness, theanthropology of pop culture and post modernism. Without giving anything away, be prepared to be taken on an edge ofyour seat ride. If Sophia (not a diva), is not left behind, you willcome to an amazing realization, which makes it all the more brilliantand telling, that this is just one more sign, that we are in theend-times.

(2012-05-10 08:41)

The joke is on us.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable film. As it evolved I became horrified at what was occurring (can't say more without giving storyline twist away) and am left with an unsettled feeling that the joke is on us. Which I suspect is what Banksy was striving for all along.

(2012-05-09 19:48)

A boring documentary on mental illness

Can I have that hour of my life back? I like eclectic and alternative movies. I did not like how this film was produced and how its protagonist is a man with mental illness being portrayed as some sort of fascinating enigma.

frankenbenz (2012-05-09 04:15)

Too Good To Be True...

If you haven't heard about Casey Affleck's mock-doc that followsJoaquin Phoenix's career implosion, then you probably missed one of themost awkwardly hilarious eleven minutes on TV in years. I'm Still Herewas equally fascinating as a 'take the pi$$' study of ego and the emptycult of celebrity. Yeah, it was fake but so what...it revealed a senseof contempt for Hollywood BS few biting satires on the Biz can competewith. If you know the work of Banksy, then you won't be surprised hisdocumentary about Thierry Guetta may also be taking the pi$$...out ofdocumentaries, the art world and whomever / whatever / wherever elsethe geyser-like stream of pi$$ splatters. Is it real? Is it fake? Nomatter because --just like I'm Still Here -- it's good.http://eattheblinds.blogspot.com/

(2012-05-08 19:37)

Ironic? Sad? Insightful? Comic? It's Certainly a Unique Comment on the Art World.

"Exit Through the Gift Shop" was made by the British street artist Banksy, apparently out of desperation. While visiting Los Angeles in 2006, Banksy was introduced to a French émigré named Thierry Guetta, who compulsively films everything he sees. Thierry had been introduced to street art in 2000 by his cousin, who calls himself "Invader" for the Space Invader art that he plasters everywhere. Thierry found a focus: He would film street artists. Back in L.A., he filmed the artist Shepard Fairey and learned the process of making street art in all the best spots in L.A. So, when the celebrated and elusive Banksy needed an assistant, Thierry was the perfect person to show him around the city. Thierry was supposedly making a documentary about street artists -and epic documentary judging by the quantity of film footage. But when Banksy finally puts Thierry on the spot about the documentary, it becomes clear that Thierry is no filmmaker. He records everything but has no ambitions for his collection of documentary evidence. So Banksy takes on the project himself, sifting through over 10,000 hours of footage. In an inspired moment, Banksy decides that the film should be about Thierry Guetta rather than about street artists. So this compulsive filmmaker who became the documentarian of so many street artists becomes the subject of a street artist documentary.But the story doesn't end there. While Banksy tries to put the film together, he encourages Thierry to pursue his fledgling artistic ambitions. He doesn't expect that Thierry will take all he has learned from other artists and try to do them one better by producing computer-generated street art on a commercial scale and putting on a huge art show that will net $1 million. Thierry doesn't know much about art or art shows, in fact, but he does understand hype, and, whatever else he may lack, he does have guts. "Exit Through the Gift Shop" documents these peculiar circumstances and their unlikely outcome and, in so doing, makes a truly strange and insightful comment on the art world.