Banksy's debut film is set for dvd and download release in the coming weeks. While the 7YW team was not invited to the big screen debuts, we have scrounged up a prerelease copy and offer our late review.

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a splendid theatrical yarn that succeeds in not only telling a story but also asking some difficult questions. It documents the street art movement of the last decade through the lens of a slightly oddball Frenchman, Thierry Guetta. He relentlessly films elusive artistic renegades like Space Invader, Banksy, and Shepard Fairey. It all seems like a relatively straight forward film until somewhere in the middle when the tables are turned and Guetta becomes the main subject. The viewer is left wondering whether they are watching a true documentary, a mockumentary, or something in between. In the end, it really doesn't matter what the truth is, because like a timeless novel, every person will interpret what they see differently and will walk away with their own conclusion as to the message and purpose. And that is what makes this movie so great.

The film's site offers up the following explanation:

This is the inside story of Street Art - a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide. Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world’s most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results. - Banksyfilm.com

Exit Through the Gift Shop starts out with an extended two and half minute credits montage of street art set to Richard Hawley's "Tonight The Streets Are Ours", providing a newcomer to the scene with a little background (included in teaser video below). It quickly shifts to the late nineties to follow a LA clothing shop owner, Thierry Guetta, as he, by chance, meets his cousin, Space Invader. Thierry, an obsessive filmer, follows Space Invader as he puts up his custom made Invader mosaics through-out Paris. Through this connection, Thierry is able to gain access to many of the elusive artists driving the street art movement, including Shepard Fairey and Banksy.

As the film traverses the footage of Thierry's travels with the artists, we are provided with a timeline and history of the movement. It is a rare glimpse at the process behind the art. There are scenes showing Shepard Fairey as he cuts out a huge Andre the Giant in Kinkos and Banksy as he slices up a quintessential large rat stencil before heading out into the streets. This story continues through the now famous Banksy show in LA, "Barely Legal." At this point Banksy states, "so then these famous auction houses, all of a sudden they were selling street art and everything was going a bit crazy and suddenly it had all become about the money but it never was about the money so I said to Thierry, alright you have the footage, you can tell the real story about what this art is about, it's not about the hype, it's not about the money, now is the time, you need to get your film out." When Thierry brings his documentary, Life Remote Control, to Banksy for review, it goes over so poorly that Banksy takes over the film and suddenly Thierry becomes the focus. Thierry Guetta transforms into the street artist Mr. Brainwash and the film concludes with his much hyped LA debut show, "Life is Beautiful".

At face value the film supplies a delightful visual experience combined with an incredible story. As it turns out the story has been seen by many to be too incredible and various theories on the truth have cropped up. It is very easy, especially after a few views, to conclude that the whole thing is an intricate farce put on by Banksy and Fairey to show just how ridiculous the commercial art world is.

The whole thing, it's clear now, was an intricate prank being pulled on all of us by Banksy, who has never publicly revealed his identity, with Fairey as his accomplice.
The new "documentary" Exit Through the Gift Shop, "directed" by Banksy, and "co-directed" by Shepard Fairey, takes that prank one step further. - Fast Company

You can’t help leaving the movie wondering, is Mr Brainwash for real, or is he just an elaborate construction of Banksy, pulling off his most ingenius hoax yet? Most art/culture hipsters are convinced that Mr Brainwash is just that, a symbolic trope for the commodification of street art and the complex dynamics of “selling out”. Critics argue, you can’t possibly call Mr Brainwash “real” art. Its all derivative, there’s nothing original, he didn’t pay his dues…Haven’t we heard this all before? - PSFK

And the contrasting argument:

Is the movie itself a put-on? Several critics have raised the possibility that “Exit Through the Gift Shop’’ is just another Banksy con game, an art-world “Punk’d’’ that lets him and his little pals laugh all the harder at us. I’m not buying it; for one thing, this story’s too good, too weirdly rich, to be made up. For another, the movie’s gently amused scorn lands on everyone. That great, weary title carries an echo of P.T. Barnum’s “This Way to the Egress’’ — a sign promising a zoological novelty, it led only to the door out — and reminds us there’s a sucker born every minute. Some of them even grow up to be street artists. - The Boston Globe

If the whole thing is in fact a prankumentary, then perhaps the prank has gone too far. Mr. Brainwash (MBW) has continued his assault on the art establishment, following up the LA show with one in NYC. The Icons show was again met with venomous reviews however attracted a slew of fans. ANIMALNewYork went to the NYC show and asked these MBW fans the very relevant question, is Mr. Brainwash a "terrible artist or worst artist ever." (video below)

The show (Icons) was so wretchedly derivative, repetitive, and insultingly insipid that we felt it could only have been an intentional prank: With its prints of famous figures Mr. Brainwash said he couldn't name from memory, and art made out of broken LPs (a staple of junk sales), it was as if they were taunting hipster collectors into buying the worst possible art to prove their hideous, herd-following taste. - NY Mag

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Regardless of whether Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary or mockumentary, it raises many questions. The one thing not in question is the impact of Banksy on the contemporary art scene. We are witnessing an historical artist unravel his canvas and paint a masterpiece. From the pieces on the wall in Israel to the Guantanamo piece at Disneyland, Banksy is consistently provoking the public to think through art in public view. This movie represents the next step in this evolution and is a must see.

Available in USofA on November 23rd for download from the bastards at iTunes or preorder for the December 14th release from Amazon.