Director: Banksy
Starring: Banksy, Thierry Guetta, Shepard Fairey, Invader, Rhys Ifans
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of last year's New Zealand International Film Festival, Exit Through the Gift Shop (narrated by Rhys Ifans) is part thought-provoking social experiment, part character study and part visual documentary of the work of some of the world’s most renowned street artists in the last two decades.
Thierry Guetta is a French-born Los Angeleno who for years has persisted in documenting hour upon hour of his life onto videotapes. When he returns to France on holiday he learns that his cousin, the artist known as Invader, is one of the leading proponents of the worldwide underground street art movement. Guetta instantly falls in love with the exciting and beautiful world of street art, and he begins to document the works and progress of artists like Invader and L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey, with the goal of finding and meeting the famous but elusive Banksy to include him in a documentary he is planning. He eventually does, but this is where Exit Through the Gift Shop stopped being a documentary being made by him and became a documentary being made about him.
While Exit contains stunning documentation of an art form that exists only temporarily, it becomes a backdrop to the story about Guetta’s transformation. He turns from an insanely-enthusiastic and lovably hilarious man who is seemingly distracted by everything all at once, to an arrogant, self-important ‘artist’ named Mr Brainwash, who is equally disorganised and blissfully clueless but incredibly motivated in becoming successful. Just like his adopted mentor, Banksy.
Where the fun and brilliance in watching this work comes is in trying to figure out whether Guetta is a real person or whether the entire film is a fabrication, another of Banksy’s elaborate pranks. Guetta/Mr Brainwash’s artwork is boring and noisy, but the L.A. art-buying public falls for it head over heels, and we are left wondering whether Guetta has actually become an overnight art sensation or if Banksy has tricked hundreds of collectors out of thousands of dollars of their money. Whether true or not, Mr Brainwash is a creation of Banksy’s and through him he proves the folly of the art collectors who bought into it.
Guetta provides a fantastically hilarious and fascinating presence in Exit, and Banksy’s comic timing and delivery of his lines, while clearly not candid and hammed-up, still provide a massive payoff and reinforce the Banksy personality that can be derived from his work. Much like Banksy, the truth behind Exit Through the Gift Shop remains elusive and anonymous – and lets each viewer decide for themselves what to make of the events.