You won't believe it!

I don't like graffiti. Sofia is covered in it and most of it represents the meaningless scribbles of narcissistic morons who seem to believe that their "tags" are of interest to the wider populace.  Ok so I'm prejudiced. To challenge my prejudices I decided to have a look at "Exit Through The Gift Shop" which, ostensibly, is a documentary about street artists. I say ostensibly because by the end movie you are not really sure if the whole thing is a hoax or not.

Film critics are equally divided. Roger Ebert (the world's greatest film critic) believes it to be genuine while the Guardian film critic thinks its a hoax. The fact is that as a piece of entertainment it is riveting stuff.  You can't really believe what's happening as you watch it. I guess it's kind of like the "Usual Suspects" of documentary making!!

West Bank "Banksy"

In brief the story revolves around a French "film-maker", Thierry Guetta who lives in the US and starts to film famous street artists.  Ultimately this brings him to meet up with the world renowned Banksy from the UK.

Thierry is a bit of a fantasist (my dog would make better movies than he does) and Banksy eventually turns the camera back on him.  He encourages Thierry to become a street artist himself.  Thierry admits he's not an artist so he hires graphic designers and other artists to do his work for him! He ends up selling millions of dollars of "street art" as "Mr. Brainwash" to LA art lovers who are desperate to buy "his work".  He even designed Madonna's "Celebration" album cover. At the end of the movie Banksy and all the other street artists are horrified at this charlatan who they have unwittingly unleashed on the world.  But did they conspire to create him in the first place as a snub to the artistic establishment? Who knows?

Graffiti of a Graffiti cleaner

Its a very funny movie and stands on its own as a piece of entertainment. It has won a host of awards and I would be surprised if it doesn't win an Oscar.  It will certainly be nominated.  Personally, I think the whole thing was a hoax and it will be the ultimate irony if Banksy (the doyen of subversive art) wins an Oscar.  That's show business!!

By the way, after watching the movie, I reluctantly admit that some graffiti can be artistic! But I don't see too much of it in Sofia.

Incidentally, Richard Hawley (formerly of Pulp) wrote the theme song "Tonight The Streets Are Ours".  It was written as a reaction to the perceived anti-youth policies of the British government. It's a great song.