EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP : [6/10] : – no director credited – : UK 10 : 86m : {15/28}

Exit Through the Gift Shop is ostensibly a documentary about a Los Angeles-based Frenchman named Thierry Guetta, who went from obsessively filming the nocturnal exploits of street-art/graffiti notables such as Shepard Fairey to becoming an overnight-sensation modern artist himself, despite having little or no talent himself to speak of.
   But after a little while we wonder whether the whole thing is in fact some kind of elaborate put-on, and that the Guetta is as “real” as his artistic alter-ego ‘Mr Brain Wash.’ In any case, do we really need another exposé of the modern art scene, analysing the hems and stitches of the latest emperor’s new clothes?
   Monsieur l’empereur himself is a somewhat annoying presence, burbling away via interview clips presented in boilerplate talking-head style – indeed, complete with arch voiceover from Rhys Ifans, Exit Through the Gift Shop, while amusing and occasionally stimulating in its multi-layered ideas and self-referentialism, is surprisingly conventional in its approach to supposedly confrontational and transgressive material. Or is that part of the point/gag/joke, to which only the filmmakers themselves are privy?
   The most “original” element is the fact that (in accordance with those original Dogme 95 tenets laid down by Lars Von Trier and co) no director is listed, even though an opening credit announces this to be ‘A Banksy Film’, in reference to the enigmatic Bristolian graffiti/street-artist who supposedly pops up (with face obscured and voice vocoded) as one of Guetta’s collaborators/influences. But if this really is Banksy’s directorial debut, it’s so far away from the cutting-edge smartness of his usual output that he really should stick to the day-job (or rather night-job) from now on.

Neil Young
7th March, 2010

 ¦ The Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK, 7.Mar.10 ( £7.00)  ¦