Exit Through the Gift Shop
I went to see Banksy’s long-awaited film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, today. At the special advanced media screening. When I got there they asked for my name and where I was from. I casually said ‘freelance’ like I say it everyday. He seemed to buy it, and then he offered me some popcorn.
For Free.
So this is why people go to media screenings.
Mind you it was on at 11am and I had to do some serious negotiating to get out of work for a couple of hours. It involved a very early start, and I’m not good at the a.m. That’s how dedicated I was to this film.
It was worth it.
The film
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary compiled by Banksy, taken from the recordings made by the documentary’s subject, Frenchman Thierry Guetta.
Guetta is the cousin of world famous street artist, Invader, who makes mosaic tiled space invader characters and positions them within a street context (please tell me you’ve seen Invader’s work before…).
The documentary follows Guetta as he uses this pretty solid connection to the world of street art to befriend and film world-famous artists such as Shepard Fairey, Borf, Sweet Toof and Cyclops, and many, many more. It is incredible the connections that this generally irritating Frenchman manages to make with artists who, in all other circumstances, tend to keep their identity under wraps.
His ultimate goal, however, is Banksy.
Despite being a documentary, the film doesn’t have the inevitable boring patches inherent to most.
It runs for a rather brief hour and a half, and there is so much packed into it that I think anyone with a vague interest in art, street art, film, people, life, anything would probably be glued to the screen as I was.
It is funny. Both funny ‘ha-ha’ and funny, ‘oh my god, this is completely weird’.
You get an insight into the world of graffiti artists, stencil artists, all kinds of other street artists - the likes of which have never been captured on film before. Guetta hangs out with these people, he interviews them, he goes with them to install pieces, and he films everything. Everything. He even becomes one of them. Kind of.
Banksy?
Yes, you get to see Banksy. But his face is blurred and his voice is distorted. I am able to tell you that he is white, he is English, and he is married. Sorry girls, they show his hands.
That’s all I got.
You do get to see all around his studio.
To be honest, I left the cinema feeling a little bit strange, like I didn’t know what was real and what was part of someone’s agenda. Is the art world just a bit of a farce, or is that exactly the point Banksy is trying to make?
All I know is, the guy is very clever. Perhaps more clever than he is credited for.
Exit Through the Gift Shop opens nationally (in Australia) on 2 June. It is showing at the following cinemas:
Brisbane: Tribal Theatre, George Street from 4 June - 14 June.
Melbourne: ACMI, Federation Square from 3 June - 18 June.
Sydney: where it is showing as part of the Sydney film festival on 2 June and 7 June.
Canberra: National Gallery of Australia from 11 June - 14 June.
Perth: Luna Leederville from 10 June - 23 June.
Adelaide: Mercury Cinema from 4 June - 14 June.
