A Banksy Film

Exit Through The Gift Shop. A Banksy Film.

The world’s first street art disaster movie

Exit Through The Gift Shop, Banksy’s debut movie, a spoof documentary in which he agrees to be the subject of a film by Thierry Guetta, an obsessive French (self-proclaimed) film maker.

The film predominantly pivots around the work of Banksy, graffiti vandal, legendary street artist or Britain’s “unlikeliest national treasure” as defined by The Sunday Times Magazine as much as it depicts the tale of one man’s obsessive desire to film the UK’s most prolific and globally renowned underground street artist. In a world with no rules, one man broke them all.

Part fact, part fiction, Exit Through The Gift Shop is insightful, thought provoking and, at times, just downright hilarious. Banksy is one funny f*cker. Taking no credit for any direction in the film, he appears (disguised) throughout. Well, you didn’t seriously expect to actually see his face, did you?

“Donut” Banksy © 2009. Released through a new automated reservation method that allows everyone an equal chance at getting a print. The political satire print features a donut truck being escorted by police motorcade. Strawberry or chocolate, only 299 pieces per flavor.

Essentially what happens is this, Banksy cottons on to the fact that Thierry is full of B.S. The super brief synopsis is Banksy’s sees Thierry’s “car crash” edit and quickly realises he could do a better job of the production, tells Thierry to leave the raw footage with him and maybe consider throwing a lil’ street art party in the interim.

The delusional film maker rises to the bait, unsurprisingly, and things get a little out of hand (again, unsurprisingly) as he sets about throwing his own street art expo – without the nouce and with very little finesse. Branding himself Mister Brainwash, Thierry lands himself front cover of LA Weekly and a complete sell out show. Skipping over the details to avoid giving everything away, what I will say is this…

This documentary will strike a bittersweet chord with anyone in the creative field; it leaves you hanging with an acute sense of what really are the rules of creativity? What defines art? What constitutes original work? Is reinvention or reinterpretation worthy of public adoration? Or are we all just being mugged off?

Whoah. This poses the question, “was this all staged as another seamless guerilla marketing ploy by Banksy?”

I can’t answer those questions for you but, in my mind, Thierry Guetta a.k.a. Mister Brainwash is an arrogant, naive and unprecedented dirt box. Though I enjoyed laughing at him. The rules on the street don’t need to be written, they are understood. There is an unsaid code of ethics. He broke ‘em.

On any given day I would typically encourage rule breakage but what Mister Brainwash did is just pure scummy. Undermining real street artists and abusing his position of trust. Demonstrating a pure lack of regard towards his peers and art enthusiasts alike. Some wrongs… are just W.R.O.N.G.

Perhaps Banksy is just bang on the money, in deliberating that “maybe the bloke is just a f*cking genius”.

Exit through The Gift Shop. A Banksy Film. Go watch it. You won’t be disappointed.

Narrated by Rhys Ifans, numerous interjections by Banksy albeit in a distorted mic voice, Invader, Shepard Fairey and even a brief cameo by Buff Monster et al.

I went to see the film on Saturday night at Brighton’s Duke of York Picturehouse, an ace venue where you can even take your pint of Leffe in with you. Obv we were chuffed to bag the plump balcony sofa, much to the disgruntlement of others! Result. Both film and venue are highly recommended.

Those living in the Dark Ages, oblivious to Bansky’s work and the context of this post, do yourself a favour and get an education right here.