Good Evening, Shoppers

The Oscars may have been last week, but I only just got around to watching one of the Best Documentary Film nominees, Exit Through the Gift Shop. Though it ultimately did not win the top prize, it was certainly the most talked about of the nominees. Made by the British street artist known as Banksy, it is a film about the man who originally set out to make a documentary film about street art. The roles reverse, with the subject becoming the filmmaker, and the would-be filmmaker becoming the subject.

It's hard to say too much more about my opinion of the film without discussing some of the material that isn't revealed until the last half hour. If you've already decided to see the movie and just haven't gotten around to it, you should probably consider bailing after this paragraph. I'll simply jump to the end and say that I rate the film a B, and recommend it.

If you're still with me from here, consider yourself warned about spoilers. Much has been made about whether or not this documentary is actually true, or an elaborate put-on. I think that's beside the point, which is made quite strongly regardless of the truth of the film. Namely, that is that you could make a case that the entire modern art movement is a bit of a put-on.

It turns out that the original documentary filmmaker is really nothing of the sort; he's just a bit of a nutcase that films everything, everywhere he goes, and who is into street art. He eventually falls so deeply in love with the subject that when Banksy half-heartedly suggests that he try his hand at some art (because the film he was making turns out like crap), he throws himself beyond reason into the endeavor, opening a massive art show in Los Angeles.

The thing is, the exhibit is somehow so overhyped and overproduced that droves of people are suckered in and end up spending in excess of a million dollars buying the art of a total unknown. This leaves "real" street artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey at a complete loss. They feel this eager nobody has no more skill at art than he does at filmmaking. (And from the evidence we're presented, this seems true. He can imitate, but not create.) And yet, he's just as successful in the field -- maybe even more so -- than the "true artists."

But if the one man is a sham, it makes you start to question if all art in that style is a sham too. Hence the title of the film, Exit Through the Gift Shop; art that makes money, while being devoid of any deeper meaning. And as someone who has raised an eyebrow before when hearing intellectuals describe what they see in, say, a collection of colored shapes or a Jackson Pollock drip painting, this is a reaction I've had to art more than a few times myself. Hearing people actually in the field forced to face this same question makes for a wild ride.

So, as I said, I'd rate the film a B. It's an entertaining 80 minutes that makes you marvel and laugh.