Banksy at DocFest '10

I've followed Banksy's work for a while now, and like his graffiti as well as his more recent ventures into installation pieces. His first film piece "Exit Through the Gift Shop" has had mixed reviews, which is like Banksy's work anyway; you either love it or hate it.

Here's the trailer to "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

The film itself is meant to be a documentary, although with Banksy's sense of humour I'd call it a "mockumentary" instead. The film features a man called Thierry whose interest in street artists has led him all around the world, filming their underground spray painting and avoiding the police. The documentary style seems to romanticise graffitiing, and the fact that it's against the law. But the way the artists are portrayed as quiet and removed from Thierry, no matter how much he described them as being like "family". When the film maker meets Banksy, who, as usual, is masked or pixelled out so he won't be identified, it seems as though Banksy was looking after the film maker, as he sets him tasks that Banksy later describes as "getting out of control". You get the feeling as though the narrative is meant to pull similarities from the story of Frankenstein's monster.

So, it turns out that Thierry Guetta, presented as Mr Brainwash eventually within the film, really is a graffiti artist, putting my previous theory pretty much in the bin.

Is Banksy’s ‘Exit Through the Giftshop’ a hoax too far? - The Times Online

No, it's not. It may be a hoax, but it's still funny. The fact that we all think that the film is a complete hoax only serves to show us how cynical we really are. Although the facts, timelines or events might have been set up to be more theatrical or comical than they really were, surely we watch films to be entertained? I may have been wrong about Mr Brainwash being a made up character, but I still loved watching the film. The rough handheld quality to the camera work FELT real, whether it was or not. I liked feeling like I could sneak peek at graffiti artists because I'm envious of them. I liked the character of Thierry because he was a loveable fool, which is exactly how Banksy wanted to portray him. He may make him look like a sneak for creating a media hub and attracting publicity to sell paintings, but then Banksy does the same thing. I still like the Frankenstein's monster metaphor: Banksy created the character of Mr Brainwash through this film, and then set him loose, seeming to regret it instantly, but it was too late.