Exit through the gift shop: Review
Is it true? Is it false? It doesn't matter, it's awesome.
Have you ever seen any street art? I don’t mean just some guy how has written his name on a wall. I mean real street art. I’m lucky enough to say I’ve seen a genuine Banksy in the town of Islington, London, UK.
The work I saw, is the picture to the right. Two kids have their hands on their hearts, looking towards a flying bag from ‘Tesco’ (the largest supermarket chain in the UK).
It was a very cool statement about our consumerist society, but it was also against the law. And yet, the local government were so impressed to have a genuine ‘Banksy’ in their town, they placed a protective barrier over the illegal artwork to make sure no one would vandalise it!
What is street art?
Well, in the UK, Europe and some cities of the USA, a fascination with street art & street artists has been around for some time. The most famous, reclusive, and highly sought after of street artists is Banksy, who is also the director of this movie.
Banksy uses stencils that he prepares in a studio, and then spray paints on to a pre-chosen wall. Type ‘banksy’ into google images, and you’ll see some more examples of the artist at work.
What is the movie about?
’Exit through the gift shop’ is a film which tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a wacky French immigrant in Los Angeles. Thierry is obsessed with filming things - family, friends, every experience he ever has. At one point in his filming, he stumbles upon his cousin making some street art. Fascinated he follows his cousin around, filming everything as it happens. Over the course of time, Thierry meets almost every influential street artist in the world through his cousin (including Banksy), and in a final twist, becomes a famous street artist himself.
The movie is a ‘documentary’, but a quick search on the net shows that no one is convinced that the story is genuine. It is almost too perfect and too strange to be true.
But it is immensely entertaining. And you learn a lot about human nature as you watch it.
You learn that people love a mystery. No one knows who Banksy really is. He has never revealed his face, or used his real voice in public. You cannot help but be fascinated by him.
You learn that humans are easily tricked. Watching the bumbling Thierry Guetta put on his first art show and sell his original art works for tens of thousands of dollars, makes you realise how we are all suckers when it comes to a well produced advertising compaign.
You learn that we all have double standards. For some reason, it’s ok now for Banksy to spray images over any wall he wants around the world. People love it! Yet, if anyone else did it, they could be arrested and fined.
Watch this movie - it’s just come out on DVD. It’s highly entertaining, and you’ll learn a lot about human nature.
Read more about
Stay in the loop