Exit Through the Box Office Dreamed 5077 days ago | | 305 words
“Banksy will never again help anyone make a documentary about street art”
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on Exit Through the Gift Shop. I was hoping for a film about Banksy and about his work and motivations. Instead, I got the life story of Theirry Guetta. He is an obsessive filmer. I am hesitant to call him a filmmaker since I don’t think he even made this film.
He tagged along with various street artists and obsessively filmed them everywhere they went and everything they did. He has hundreds if not thousands of tapes. Some marked, some not. He is the self-elected documenter of the origins of street art.
However, he didn’t do anything with the film he shot. The film was later sorted out by editors unknown to create this film. This is my assumption anyway.
I don’t know what to think about Thierry. In the end, he seemed to use the street artists he had befriended and latched on to to launch his own career in the street art world. However, he had ideas and hired people to bring them to life. His “Mr. Brainwash” persona is as much a collective as it is a single person.
This movie is much more like Nerdcore Rising in that it deals with the history and beginning of street art. Just as Nerdcore Rising is about the rise and creation of Nerdcore music. I’d highly recommend both films as long as you go into it knowing what to expect.
Had I read reviews of Exit… I would have known it was not a Banksy movie but I still enjoyed it for what it was, a history of street art.
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