No one seems to know exactly what to call “Exit through the Gift Shop.” The film, attributed to the trickster and graffiti artist Banksy, might be a documentary. It might be an elaborate hoax. It might be a strange and fanciful combination of the two.
But regardless of label, “Exit through the Gift Shop” plays with you—your perceptions, your opinions of the people in the film, and your expectations of what will come from them. The documentary begins as an endearing character study of a modest and quirky man, but as the man’s character morphs, so do the overall feel and the believability of the film.
Thierry Guetta, a mustachioed French émigré to Los Angeles, ran an upscale clothing boutique as a profession. Documentation, though, encompassed a greater deal of his time and attention, as he filmed everything around him. Tragedy in his childhood led him to realize that the most precious and ephemeral moments in life would not last unless he kept note of them in some way, so he filmed every moment he could.
When Guetta filmed his cousin one day, the French graffiti artist Space Invader, his inspiration and the focus of his lens traveled to new lengths. Guetta honed his obsession on the worldwide and highly secretive street art movement, and using his connection to Space Invader, found trust from the artists of the Los Angeles area. While Guetta simply enjoyed the thrill of following these artists, he told them he planned to make a documentary of his own in order to let his obsession come to full fruition. The group of artists included Shepard Fairey, of iconic Obama “Change” poster fame, who connected Guetta with the main figure of his obsession, Banksy.
Shot in large by Guetta with a digital handheld camera, the first half of “Exit through the Gift Shop” has an amateur aesthetic. Still, it is pleasing to watch, and in a way it adds some authenticity and a great deal of charm to Guetta’s accidental journey from behind to before the camera. Rhys Ifans’ narration also invigorates the story, as his deep-voiced British accent complements Guetta’s eccentric Franglish and Banksy’s muzzled disguise commentary.
The anonymous and enigmatic street artist known publicly as Banksy affects “Exit through the Gift Shop” with the greatest presence nonetheless. Banksy hails from Britain, but his works circle the globe. They often symbolize themes of political controversy and overconsumption, and whether ironic or absurd, they provoke thought. For these reasons, Guetta aimed highest in the street art industry; he would not consider his work satisfied unless it featured Banksy at work.
As a result of a few fortuitous events, Banksy and Guetta came in contact. Guetta follows Banksy from behind during the film, never revealing his face, but crosscutting the man of mystery behind the scenes with photo montages of his brilliant works. In one part of “Exit through the Gift Shop,” Guetta shows Banksy in his studio preparing a dead telephone booth—crushed and bleeding under a pickaxe—which he later reveals in a London street. Still, “Exit through the Gift Shop” revolves more around Guetta, especially when Banksy passes the torch to him.
Previously a shadow and eventually a sidekick, Guetta goes under Banksy’s tutelage in his final stage of the film. Banksy tells Guetta it’s his turn to become an artist, and he does to an unexpected extent. Seemingly an overnight sensation, Mr. Brainwash, the Thierry Guetta alter-ego, explodes. He hinges a massive PR campaign, hires a team of artists, and launches an expansive Los Angeles art show filled with hundreds of pieces his team has created using his pop-artistic ideas. The formerly shy and humble cameraman transforms before the audience into a cocky, dictatorial, cigarette-wielding artiste extraordinaire.
After it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, “Exit trough the Gift Shop” received a blend of praise and confused philosophizing from critics and audiences alike. The film begs such a variety of questions, and possesses a fascinating uniqueness of form. The professionalism of the second half, which focuses on the new Guetta, opposes its previous part so much that it seems it must be fabricated. Who is Mr. Brainwash, and how could he possibly have succeeded so quickly? How could he have changed so much? Is what he makes legitimate art, or has he fooled all the thousands of people who paid to see his work? Has he fooled us too?
Even Guetta’s Mr. Brainwash persona seems all too apropos. With Banksy behind the wheel of this film, whose cerebral works of art have provoked such excessive debate, it would come as no surprise to find him the true artist of the Guetta experiment too. The documentary as a whole could be a massive, ironic play on the audience’s gullibility for all we know.
As much as Banksy and his fellow street artists express regret in encouraging Guetta to pursue a form of art which they see as a pale imitation of their own, they appear as responsible for “Exit through the Gift Shop” as Guetta. Banksy remarks, “I guess the joke’s on us,” but we cannot tell what collective group Banksy refers to. As viewers of “Exit through the Gift Shop,” we might be the ones truly satirized and duped.
Edited by Tom Fulford and Chris King; starring Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta and Invader; produced by Holly Cushing, Jaimie D’Cruz and James Gay-Rees; music by Geoff Barrow and Roni Size; released by Paranoid Pictures; running time 87 minutes
No comments:
Post a Comment