In A World With No Rules, One Man Broke Them All

Exit Through the Gift Shop:

• Is this film worth your time? Yes. Unless you don't care for art or politics. Then no.
• Director: Banksy
• Starring: Thierry Guetta, Banksy, Shepard Fairy, Invader
• Running time: 87 minutes

Just as a piece of art is supposed to do, Exit Through the Gift Shop leaves the ultimate interpretation up to you. Is it a satire? Absolutely. Where does the joke stop? You can't be sure...but that's all part of the intellectually stimulating fun.

Exit is a documentary (or possibly a mocumentary) narrated by Rhys Ifans, that turns the camera around on Thierry Guetta, a man obsessed with street artists who filmed and filmed and filmed until he became overwhelmed. Banksy, the elusive street artist, then took over, telling the story of Guetta and his transformation from ogler to "artist".

Above all the film is about poking fun at "the scene", artists and the idea of art itself. Guetta who decides to transform himself into a street artist demonstrates the thin and blurry line between powerful, political commentary through images, and hollow, technology-dependant, trendy junk. By using tried and true marketing techniques and infiltrating the L.A. "scene", Guetta who begins to assume the pseudonym Mr. Brainwash to promote his "art", establishes himself overnight. Scenesters line up by the hundreds to check out the latest "it" artist, collectors following suit and perfectly illustrating the arbitrary nature of market economics. As demand increases, absurd price tags are happily obliged.

British wit and French idiosyncrasy collide to provide some great fun while the unsettled treatment of art as politics leaves one uneasy, pushing forward the blank space of a canvass on which to ponder and create your own convictions. It helps to keep the title of the film in mind as you go about trying to figure it all out.