06 September 2010

#98 of 2010: Exit Through the Gift Shop


Some of the dialogue/monologue is hilarious, but the "this guy is a schlub" shtick begins to breach overkill right around the time that Banksy starts to really paint himself as the genuine article/overlord/golden standard of socially integrated art-making. Maybe he is, and I don't care to get into that, I just wish that he would have allowed some of the criticism of his modus operandi/aesthetic to fall on his own shoulders instead of re-routing the whole deluge of "can you really call this guy an artist and sell his work as art" in "Mr. Brainwash"'s bumbling direction (and setting up a pretty clear analogy to a certain Mr. Hirst). I really enjoyed the scene with the "forged" currency, how in the end, anonymity or not, the artist knows that there are limits, that you can't just do ANYTHING and still expect to work and make an impact, and I wish there would have been more of those "oops" moments, not just for comedic effect. As for the "hoax vs. docu" semi-controversy, I went into the viewing with the idea that the "real subject" was fictionalized, and I enjoyed the bulk of the movie from that angle. Overall I'll recommend it, especially for people (like me) who are unclear on the development of "street art" as a genre.


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