Exit Through the Gift Shop

Last night I saw the Banksy movie Exit Through the Gift Shop. It was really good- funny, perplexing, and interesting all at the same time. Definitely a must see, which might seem surprising for a documentary about a documentarian (documentarist?).

It's kind of tricky to explain the movie (this review will probably do a better job that I will), but on the surface it's a documentary about Thierry Giuetta, a compulsive French filmer (though not necessarily a filmmaker) who follows and videotapes artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey, ostensibly making a documentary about street art. Then the film takes a turn when Giuetta decides to become a street artist (of sorts) himself.

There are all sorts of layers you can read into it. Is it a commentary about how people are gullible when it comes to what's considered art? Is the entire thing just a joke that Banksy's playing? All of this is mixed in with really interesting scenes of street artists putting up their work. I can't really be sure what the full meaning of the whole thing is, but I do know that I really enjoyed it.