Henry Saw: Exit Through the Gift Shop

I doubt I'll see a documentary I like more than this one for the rest of the year...


What an entertaining and interesting film...

I don't know where to start so I will cheat and quote Paranoid Pictures (the film's distributor) to summarize the film: Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview. As Banksy describes it, "It's basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed"

The aforementioned Frenchmen is Thierry Guetta who is, without a doubt, the "main character" of the film. Despite being "A Film By Banksy", and Banksy being the first and last person we see (though we never see his face), the film is all about Thierry. It shows us how he was able to meet and befriend most of the notable street artists of our time, filmed every moment of it, and then decided to become an artist himself. The film, which was basically directed by two different men (Thierry and Banksy), but then edited by one (Banksy), is endlessly discussable. So you'll forgive me if this review doesn't have a firm thesis, the film demands exploration, but if you want the short version: This movie is awesome. Also, just a head's up, I might not be able to avoid spoiling some things from here on. You've been warned...



Narrated by Rhys Ifans (the friend in Notting Hill), the film's first half follows a fairly conventional narrative. Banksy, shrouded in shadow so that we cannot see his face, introduces us to Thierry and his obsession with filming everything. Thierry, it seems, went everywhere with a video camera. He has no real reason to do so, later in the film he gives us some silly reason involving the death of his mother, and throughout we must wonder if he has some kind of disorder. Once Thierry films his cousin Space Invader (whose art you can see above) he becomes addicted to filming the works of street artists. Through his cousin he soon meets Shepard Fairey (best known for his iconic Obama - Hope image) who he films putting up his well known "Obey" image.



What is most interesting about this part of the film is that we can't quite understand why Thierry is so hypnotized by the underground art world and its inhabitants. We get that he is excited by it, and the risk involved in filming the artists at work, but he doesn't seem that interested or informed in any way. He just likes being there and soaking up whatever the artists tell him. At this point in the film I was already questioning the validity of this art-form. Space Invader's icons, and Fairey's Andre the Giant inspired "OBEY", don't really seem to have any artistic value. At one point Fairly argues that, by making an image ubiquitous enough, you can make people believe an image is important even if it isn't. This seems to be his mission; to make his silly graphic image important when he knows he it is not. I suppose that's art.

We never find out what Space Invader's goals are.



Thierry manages to contact and film a great deal of the best known Street Artists, but Banksy becomes his Great White Whale, and we soon learn why. Banksy is the best known, most respected, and "best selling" graffiti artist. Unlike some of his compatriots, Banksy does not have one theme or motif that he wants to hammer into the public. The film, which was made by Banksy, paints him as far more provocative and...in a way...the only one worthy of the title of "artist" among his compatriots. There is no denying that the piece that first got him worldwide acclaim, his painting on the wall between Israel and Palestine, is an astounding work of art.



Finally, through random circumstance, Thierry finally meets Banksy. He becomes the only man to ever film Banksy at work, and after earning Banksy's trust after a stunt at Disneyland, Thierry becomes Thierry's official camera man. The only problem was that Theirry, in order to justify his omnipresent camera, told Banksy he was making "THE" street art documentary. Banksy tells us that the only reason he allowed Thierry to follow him around is that he knows that street art is temporary, most of it gets cleaned away as soon as it is found, and he wanted someone to document the key artists and works of the movement.

Eventually, Banksy asks Thierry to finally start to compose his film. When we see what Thierry edits together, and remember that this is a man who has never aspired to be a film-maker in his life, it is one of the funniest moments of the film. Only adding to the humor is Banksy's wry and hilarious opinion of Thierry's work. To get Thierry off his back Banksy tells Thierry that he should try creating his own art. The second half of the film follows the ramifications of this suggestion.

It is at this point that the film becomes firmly about Thierry, who manages to make himself a hyped and successful L.A. artist, and the movie concludes with Shepard Fairey and Banksy reflecting on the monster they helped create. One of my favorite qualities of the film is that it trusts the audience to know that Thierry's art is crap. A half-hour of the film is devoted to Thierry's questionable method of creating art and his opening of a grand exhibition. The whole time we know that, to paraphrase Janosz from Ghostbusters II, everything he's doing is bad. Banksy summarizes the whole thing with perhaps the funniest line of the movie, and again I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like: "I used to encourage everyone I meet to create art. ...I don't do that anymore."



Exit Through the Gift Shop is a total success. It made me reevaluate my opinion of street art, made me more aware of the key figures in that world, and forced me to think about how our culture values art. The film peppers in reactions from people looking at the art which offers a necessary, and wide-ranging, perspective that Banksy could not otherwise have provided.

I'm not going to pretend that this movie has caused me to fully respect the street art movement, or that it did enough to address the question of why these artists choose to do their work in this manner, but it's not really trying to do either of those things. The focus of this film is Thierry and through him we see the excitement, and potential to make a real impression, that is inherent in this vandalizing art style.

The film has brief moments of dragging, Thierry is not that compelling a protagonist, but Banksy keeps things moving fairly well. Banksy does an impressive job of editing together thousands of hours of footage into a tight 87 minute movie with a definite beginning, middle, and end. I also have to give the film's title a nod, it's quite clever, and nicely summarizes Banksy's overall reaction to the Thierry saga.

A great doc that I cannot recommend more. It's fun, it's thought provoking, and its filled with some pretty cool art. See it.

Grade: A-

Best Scene: I loved seeing the art Banksy did at the Gaza Strip but I'll say the scene at Disneyland...