FILM: Exit Through the Gift Shop

[JoeTheStoner]

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a film which tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art. It is presented as a documentary, but reviewers have questioned its factuality. The film charts Guetta's constant documenting of his every moment on film, to his chance contact with his cousin, the artist Invader, and his documenting of a host of street artists with focus on Shepard Fairey, and also Banksy though the latter's face is never shown, and his voice is distorted to preserve his anonymity.

so after watching "basquiat" last night i was itching to watch some more films about art and luckily this popped up. its awesome. i can't recall watching anything this year as entertaining. "funny as hell" indeed and im off for a second viewing.

Trailer

5 min Extended Sneak Peek

interview @ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3124787/Banksy-in-his-own-words.html

* back again. such a dope flick. anyways, i thought of a coincidence during the 2nd viewing, peep the "sace" tag in the poster above and in this film one of the artists paints a "samo" tag to mimic the graffiti of jean-michel basquiat did well both artists got their start doing graffiti then galleries, both died at 27, both from heroin overdose RIP fellas just thought id share. good night.

 

[Max Power]

Banksy is the reason I started doing street art.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

^ if that's so, you will definitely dig this film then. be sure to drop your thoughts on it after you watch it, max.

im bout to watch it yet again. i was thinking this its gonna be a classic like "style wars" is to graffiti/hip hop but this is just another level, the questionable documentary style + its beyond just "street art" going to be a classic film period. 5/5

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

 

[TouchN' Stuff Blvd]

Very amusing film, the way it is directed makes it fun if you are interested in street art or not.
Banksy is pretty hilarious if a bit cocky.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

amusing indeed, amusing so much i've been watching this shit once a night and i don't know when ima stop.

thierry aka mr. brainwash stays in the streets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjzreSM__G4

 

[junglist15]

I want to check this. when is it out on netflix?

 

[JoeTheStoner]

^ dunno about netflix but the dvd dropped sept 6th and u can get it by other means. *wink wink

 

[junglist15]

^ haha yeah thanks! this looks really interesting.

 

[Evad]

very amusing film all round MBW is clearly a banksy construct and the amount of people taking this film at face value is incredible! We've been completely oversaturated with banksy in the UK but he has brought street art to be more recognised so props for that, I'm currently living in his hometown and there's loads of his about, being preserved by local council etc, this biggun is just next to a local bar

Shepard Fairey really irritates me for some reason I can't quite pin it down...

 

[Max Power]

Shepard Fairey really irritates me for some reason I can't quite pin it down...

Same here.

btw, I hope this movie gave somewhat of a small shout out to Blek le Rat, one of the old school artists.

 

[tribal girl]

I'm currently living in his hometown and there's loads of his about, being preserved by local council etc, this biggun is just next to a local bar

It's the same here in London. This beautiful piece is supposedly being preserved by the Tower Hamlets council, yet it's since been vandalised, with pieces of brick being removed etc. Such a shame. I passed it the other week.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

^ that's crazy that local government officials want to preserve his street art, tho im all for it, i just thought id hear from govt. officials the typical "graffiti isn't art, its vandalism, yadda yadda yadda"

http://liferemotecontrolthemovie.com/ wonder if that will actually ever be released or if it was just a "fake trailer" for the movie.

 

[Kenickie]

Pander and I watched it a couple nights ago. Banksy is pretty fucking funny, which I didn't expect from him.

Also, I don't like Shepard Fairey. Maybe it's just his nasally ass voice.

 

[JoeTheStoner]

Mr. Brainwash ICONS Opening

Carson Daly at Mr. Brainwash's Studio

and check out this chick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Hijab she paints veils over faces in advertisements in parisian subways.

mini documentary @ http://unurth.com/636420/Princess-Hijab-Short-Documentary

 

[Pander Bear]

The only way I can be OK about this movie is that if MBW is Banksy's Tony Clifton.

 

[euphoria]

I dunno, in the first part of the doc, I hated Banksy and Shephard Fairey's somewhat elitist attitudes, then after you see their point of view on people straight up copying their work and reproducing it as their own, I didn't feel that way any more. I could totally see where they were coming from.

As an artist, its really difficult and very groundbreaking to come up with something that's new, that no one else has done before. And when you do something like that, it's yours. When someone takes it and tries to pass it off as their own, yeah it's going to piss you off. You put the time and work in and they didnt. There's a huge difference between using art as inspiration and completely ripping off someone else's ideas.

Whether or not this story is 100% real (the way some of the shots were filmed makes you question), I think the artists are making a valid point. It's fucking bullshit when people steal your ideas and get all the credit. I can't tell if MBW is a complete fucking moron or a genius. He either knows exactly what he's doing and is just making money off of other people's ideas, or he is an idiot and thinks he is a real artist. Either way, I liked the way this documentary was filmed and a lot of the street art shown in the first 20 minutes or so was pretty awesome and really inspirational.

 

[atri]

i had no idea what this was, just bored and threw it on (i love netflix instant)

very interesting at the start then it just got funny. "he broke all the rules, but there arent supposed to be any rules." sums it up perfectly.
if this is fake its even more genius.

 

[lostNfound]

I was looking forward to seeing this when I first heard about it and was concerned it may end up being a piece of self indulgent wank fest.

When it ended, I was glad to have been proved wrong. I really enjoyed how the film turned out.
Not so much a fan of the ending and the Mr Brainwash show.

One of the more enjoying docos I've seen lately, particularly considering the hype and anonymity surrounding Banksy it's nice to be brought into the inner sanctum and shown what goes on behind the scenes in this sub culture so to speak.

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

3 stars. very worth watching if you have Instant.

i would have liked for banksy to make a documentary about this strange, self proclaimed film-maker and what he was able to do in the art world.

more importantly, i would have liked for bansky to have handed those tapes over to a real film maker, agree to do interviews and talk other atrsits into doing the same so that the new film maker could get his own insights, so that the film maker could make an objective documentary that is actually about banksy and that circle of street artists.

this combo fuck of the two was not what i wanted. banksy says something like MBW ended up being more interesting than their circle, but this is not true. anyways, you have to have someone not directly involved direct the film (and actually, for the most part, it feels like that's what happened. even though bansky is credited as the film-maker, it does not feel that way for most of the film--a good thing). whoever did make the film does not feel like an expierenced documentarist though, and i think this hurt the film. despite the content being interesting, i would not call it "well made."

 

[Max Power]

The first half was great, loved all the shoddy action shots of the artists putting up their work on the streets. It was a good 'behind the scenes' look, especially of Banksy who is so secretive.

The latter half: lol

Definitely include me in the camp of people who think its a 'mockumentary'. MBW has to be fake! I think Banksy was trying to make a statement and also having some fun.