Fim Review: Exit Through The Gift Shop

In past years, I've always been astounded by documentaries, but hindered in reviewing the films by the simple fact that it's all real. It doesn't have the same format or style as a narrative feature, and the scenes go by in under a minute. There's an almost constant state of fascination in the best of them, but perhaps the best statement of the merits and cliches of the documentary format, as well as a radical artistic statement about artistic statements, is Banksy's wildly appreciated Exit Through the Gift Shop. It's ultimately the story of Thierry Guetta, a man who was at both the right and wrong place at both the right and wrong time, and his life would soon change for either the better or the worst. That's definitely something that's up to interpretation.

Thierry carried a camera around with him wherever he went, not focused on creating a film, but instead intending on capturing each moment, and therefore making it immortal. He's an eccentric and in some ways mentally insane person, and he's thrown into the world of street art by pure happenstance. It's an intense and thrilling artistic world he is introduced to, and once you see something like that, it's impossible to just ignore it. It's one of the most daring subjects to document on film, and it's not created in a clean way, but still avoids devolving into complete and utter chaos. The stunts that are pulled in this film are risky as hell, and there's a palpable tension that something bad is going to happen to the artists.

It soon goes from a simple documentary to a story of transformation as Thierry becomes an "artist" in his own right, albeit something of an outcast and a bit of an imbecile. In the end, his rise is about as outlandish a thing as he is, and art isn't something that can be pressed upon you. You have to discover it on your own, otherwise it isn't really an expression. That's the line that the film travels upon, both looking at what art is or should be, and then taking it apart to what it has become, since anybody can scribble on a piece of cardboard and suddenly call it art. It creates inspiration in the first half, and then utterly crushes it in the remaining half hour by introducing Mr. Brainwash, and the negative affect he has on the artistic community. The film is ultimately a massive gut punch to anyone who wants to be an artist, filmmaker, or even a writer. We all draw inspiration from different places, but nobody wants to be Mr. Brainwash.

One of the most raw and terrifying experiences of my first semester of college was watching the experimental short films that other students had created. They had even less structure than the occasionally frustrating documentary film format, and they tried to imprint these deep psychological concepts on us. It wasn't necessarily a poor creation, but it was the most painful and numbing experience in recent memory. It was an assault, and Thierry's original creation of the film, which we see in short but horrific glimpses, was just that. I was worried that I was the only one who felt that way about these experimental works, but Banksy realized quite immediately that it was complete shit. That's probably what stuck with me most about the film. It's constantly dangling on the edge of chaos, and it comes out as the greatest documentary feature in years. Exit Through the Gift Shop is simultaneously hilarious, emotional, frightening, and intense, combining all the successful aspects of human experience where no documentary has before. Rhys Ifans' wonderful British voice narrating the effort makes it all the more trustworthy.

A-