Exit Through The Gift Shop - B+

In theaters. Rated R, 87 minutes. Trailer.

As an ardent fan of famed street artist Banksy, this film shot to the top of my most anticipated films of 2010 as soon as I heard about it. Semi-directed by Banksy, the film tells the story of Thierry Guetta, an eccentric Frenchman living in LA. Guetta falls in with the 'street artist' scene in the early 2000s through a family connection, and is soon hanging with several of the artists and filming their ephemeral late night exploits. His stated goal is to do a documentary about the street artist scene, but he has no such skills. Banksy gets entangled with him and turns the tables on him, sending cameras to document Guetta's foray into the art world under the name Mr. Brainwash and making the documentary about Guetta instead of Banksy. Click below for more on ETTGS:

The film features interviews with street artists Shepard Fairey (most famous for the arty Obama Hope poster), Space Invader, Swoon and a hooded Banksy. Given Banksy's penchant for trickery and irony, its hard to say if the whole film is a hoax or what he's trying to say. Taken at face value (which I do), it feels like a somewhat mean-spirited apology for unleashing Mr. Brainwash on the art world and an aggressive protection of Banksy's reputation (he allowed a quote of his to be used for a Mr. Brainwash show, but it was mistaken as a postive quote). It also serves as a classic send-up of the art world, mocking those that flock to Mr. Brainwash's show and actually by his crappy, derivative art.

Guetta and the street artists make fascinating subjects, and Guetta's life gives the film a decent narrative. The scenes showing Banksy and the other artists in action are really cool and worth the price of admission. Banksy's pieces appeals very strongly to me because of its social commentary and razor sharp wit. Its crazy that a guy doing graffiti may go down in history as the most celebrated artist of our time.