EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP: ENTER WITH THIS MOVIE

Banksy: Uhmmm... You know... it was at that point that I realized that maybe Thierry wasn't actually a film maker, and he was maybe just someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera.

For those of you who are not familiar, Banksy is an artist who began showing his work on the streets of London through graffiti. Not only is he a clearly defined artist, but he has a sense of humor and an understanding of politics and society that makes his work very relevant. Not only has he been able to place his work in galleries (even when they were not asked for as he would sneak in and paste his pieces to the walls himself) eventually he has had many of his own very successful gallery showings. So, it was no surprise when amateur camera man, Thierry Guetta, got involved in capturing the underground world of graffiti art in Los Angeles, Banksy eventually let this man film him doing his thing while in LA. Thierry went to England to further document Banksy's work. After a while however, Banksy became suspicious when all of this filming was taking place and no documentary was put together. Eventually, Banksy knew that this man was incapable of making a documentary himself so he took over the work. Meanwhile, Thierry was becoming more distracted by actually starting to make art himself and found himself dazzled by the spotlight placed upon him. This documentary turns out than to be about Thierry, not Banksy, made by Banksy about Thierry. Confused yet??? Now the documentary becomes the documented. It is a true blessing for this to be among the many really good documentaries as of late. It takes a very in-depth and interesting look at urban art while it also follows this odd Frenchman in his quest for who knows what. A must-see movie.