Exit Through the Gift Shop [Archive]

Prestonxsmith

05/01/10, 06:09 PM

If you consider yourself an artist, then you have to go see this. And if you don't then you have to go see this

http://chud.com/articles/content_images/5/banksy_museum_exit_through_the_gift _shop.jpg
Exit Through the Gift Shop, the first film by renowned graffiti artist Banksy, became the hottest ticket at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it made its world debut.

Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. Exit Through the Gift Shop tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner – with spectacular results.

The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the world’s most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interview.

As Banksy describes it, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed” --© Official Site

Also narrated by Rhys Ifans.

Extended Trailer: a0b90YppquE

Also really surprised no one made this thread yet. Its already out in selected theaters. Discuss.

Mandee, darling

05/01/10, 06:25 PM

Oh I love Banksy. Is this getting a nationwide release?

the seventeenth

05/01/10, 07:05 PM

I need to see this. Looks amazing.

drevans18

05/01/10, 07:55 PM

Looks unbelievable. I have no idea where I'd even go to see this...

Whalejaw

05/01/10, 08:49 PM

I'd really like to see it but I don't think it's playing anywhere remotely close to me.

-Aaron-

05/01/10, 11:16 PM

Did anyone else feel as if the entire movies point was to make fun of you for thinking artists like Bansky are great without questioning what they are doing?

Prestonxsmith

05/02/10, 01:16 AM

Did anyone else feel as if the entire movies point was to make fun of you for thinking artists like Bansky are great without questioning what they are doing?

I think the point he was trying to get across was stop trying to be like him and other street artists and be yourself. Have you seen the movie?

Prestonxsmith

05/02/10, 01:22 AM

Looks unbelievable. I have no idea where I'd even go to see this...

At the Ritz 5 apparently. and to everyone else looking for places its coming to: http://banksyfilm.com/

meroki22

05/02/10, 07:53 AM

This looks AWESOME

topsecret

05/02/10, 11:03 AM

this movie was really good. super funny. mr brainwash is the best.

Prestonxsmith

05/02/10, 03:01 PM

this movie was really good. super funny. mr brainwash is the best.

Take that back.

alice+interiors

05/04/10, 08:43 AM

Going to see this in a week or two when it hits my local cinema. I am kind of sceptical.

irthesteve

05/21/10, 03:01 PM

left me with a weird feeling, also I'm getting really wrapped up in / interested in all the talks of the whole movie being a huge hoax

xshady121

05/24/10, 06:37 PM

left me with a weird feeling, also I'm getting really wrapped up in / interested in all the talks of the whole movie being a huge hoax

Came in here to post that.

While watching it, the whole thing about Thierry didn't quite sit right with me. Nothing he did was rational. And the other artists all shit talked him, and he was just okay with it. Like, if Banksy told him to jump he'd ask how high, and then all of a sudden Banksy disapproves of him and mbw could care less?

I think it's very likely this is another peice of "art" by banksy and fairey. And it's a damn good one.

Prestonxsmith

05/24/10, 06:50 PM

Came in here to post that.

While watching it, the whole thing about Thierry didn't quite sit right with me. Nothing he did was rational. And the other artists all shit talked him, and he was just okay with it. Like, if Banksy told him to jump he'd ask how high, and then all of a sudden Banksy disapproves of him and mbw could care less?

I think it's very likely this is another peice of "art" by banksy and fairey. And it's a damn good one.
No, Thierry is very real and understands the "shit" they talk about him. He just feels that in the future, they will finally view him as an artist.

xshady121

05/24/10, 07:09 PM

No, Thierry is very real and understands the "shit" they talk about him. He just feels that in the future, they will finally view him as an artist.

Quotes like "It's like printing money-- I can just be like hmm, 10 thousand, or 32 thousand and people will just pay it to me" seem to be going against everything Banksy and Fairey are trying to show art is. Which is why MBW provides the perfect commentary on the art scene and the art buyers in general.

-Aaron-

05/25/10, 04:02 AM

irthesteve

05/25/10, 10:58 AM

No, Thierry is very real and understands the "shit" they talk about him. He just feels that in the future, they will finally view him as an artist.
not sure this is true, you might be buying into it all too much

Prestonxsmith

05/25/10, 04:45 PM

not sure this is true, you might be buying into it all too much
He said it himself in the movie. Banksy wasn't trying to manipulate him. Banksy viewed him as a friend and saw that he wanted to get into street art and told him "Hey, just try doing a small gallery show", but Theirry tried to do something way ambitious because he wanted go straight up to the top with the people he knew and looked up to. Banksy just got Theirry's tapes before the gallery show because he wanted to do a movie that was truly about street art. It's just that Theirry's gallery show came out and Banksy couldn't help but want to make a movie about him. And about the selling of the paintings, it isn't unusual as it looks. He sold clothes at ridiculous prices before any of this happened, so it shouldn't be of any surprise.

Starbursting

05/25/10, 06:07 PM

Trailer looks awesome, gonna have to look into this.

Wake Up

06/24/10, 11:16 PM

Just watched this on the flight to london yesterday. Very entertaining, with very emotional undertones. More to say about it once I get back from my trip.

irthesteve

06/24/10, 11:27 PM

He said it himself in the movie. Banksy wasn't trying to manipulate him. Banksy viewed him as a friend and saw that he wanted to get into street art and told him "Hey, just try doing a small gallery show", but Theirry tried to do something way ambitious because he wanted go straight up to the top with the people he knew and looked up to. Banksy just got Theirry's tapes before the gallery show because he wanted to do a movie that was truly about street art. It's just that Theirry's gallery show came out and Banksy couldn't help but want to make a movie about him. And about the selling of the paintings, it isn't unusual as it looks. He sold clothes at ridiculous prices before any of this happened, so it shouldn't be of any surprise.
you didn't get what i am saying, the whole thing might be an elaborate hoax, and if so then you fell for it waaaay hard

Guern1ca

06/25/10, 05:29 AM

Seeing it tonight, finally. Really excited.

IAmNietzche

06/25/10, 06:58 AM

I hate grafitti. It's direspectful.

Prestonxsmith

06/26/10, 12:02 PM

you didn't get what i am saying, the whole thing might be an elaborate hoax, and if so then you fell for it waaaay hard

There is no way some dude is going to spend 10 years of his life investing in one movie that only a certain number of people will see.

-Aaron-

06/26/10, 07:33 PM

I just felt that MBW is the hoax of it. That Banksy is just laughing at everyone who thinks he is an artist and "good"

irthesteve

06/29/10, 11:31 PM

There is no way some dude is going to spend 10 years of his life investing in one movie that only a certain number of people will see.
Do your reading:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article7041650.ece
http://www.fastcompany.com/1616365/banksy-movie-prankumentary
http://blog.artabase.net/?p=1680

I am not saying that I 100% either way, but I am far more swayed to it being a hoax

Prestonxsmith

06/30/10, 01:59 AM

Do your reading:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article7041650.ece
http://www.fastcompany.com/1616365/banksy-movie-prankumentary
http://blog.artabase.net/?p=1680

I am not saying that I 100% either way, but I am far more swayed to it being a hoax

So many holes in their theories haha.

irthesteve

06/30/10, 02:19 AM

So many holes in their theories haha.
name them

Whalejaw

09/07/10, 04:37 PM

Finally got to see this. Very entertaining.

deadkidsean

09/07/10, 05:32 PM

My assumption is that MBW is just another product of Banksy showing how easy it is to manipulate the audience into buying/loving utter crap. I remember hearing about his gallery opening and the backlash from the actual community was huge and still is. No one inside the community of street art respect or truely thinks MBW is good on any level. It all just seems like a hoax to make people look like idiots for spending their money for a product that has no meaning or actual work put into it.

In the end it doesn't matter because people ARE buying his works for outrageous prices and Banksy will never say anything.
I just felt that MBW is the hoax of it. That Banksy is just laughing at everyone who thinks he is an artist and "good"

We're on the same page. It's entirely about the manipulation.

Entertaining as hell, but all felt fake as fuck, truthfully. Played more like a mocumentary than a documentary.

Prestonxsmith

09/11/10, 09:20 AM

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/84736/street-illegal

Interview with Banksy about the movie. Good read if you have seen it.

matt_rawlings

09/11/10, 10:12 AM

Empire Magazine have looked into the documentary maker and say he is actually legit, if not something of an ecentric

irthesteve

12/21/10, 04:05 PM

Another interview with Banksy about the films legitimacy

http://www.slashfilm.com/banksy-swears-exit-gift-shop-100-true-hints-film/

Rawrr

12/21/10, 04:25 PM

Finally got around to watching this now that it is on instant really enjoyed it. Honestly had no idea about this whole "it might be a hoax" thing until after watching it, even when I was watching it I never once thought that. But it makes a lot of sense, in retrospect.

dellico

12/21/10, 04:38 PM

Watched this on instant too. I started to get the feeling something was odd when MBW started doing his own art and had the gallery show. It was funny how disgusted Banksy and Fairey were afterwards. I haven't read all the interviews yet but regardless it was really neat to see the street artists at work.

BitterMelodyRec

12/21/10, 09:52 PM

gonna watch this on netflix tonight....it looked great.

WarpSpeedChewy

12/22/10, 03:12 PM

Watched this last night. Incredibly fascinating. I would watch it though if each half of the documentary were fully extended as there's probably 2 great movies in it. I'm probably on the side of it not being a hoax. I like the idea of what -Aaron- said though of MBW being a manipulation by Banksy. That's probably true to a degree but I get the sense it was completely by accident and that's one of the most fascinating points to it. The documentary came off more to me as an street art doc that transforms into a story about accidental manipulation. It's Frankenstein's monster pretty much. But a fantastic movie. Glad I finally saw it.

DrStrong

12/22/10, 03:29 PM

As Banksy describes it, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed” --© Official Site

I have this on DVD, dont see how he failed in filming Banksy. This is supposedly the only(known) footage of Banksy doing his work. The only controversy is if Theirry Guetta actually did all of his own work in this film. All we see is Theirry spraying and flinging paint, but never him actually laying down stencils or creating anything in his studio.

This was most likely a publicity stunt by Banksy himself.

Genuma

12/22/10, 03:31 PM

thought this was great, the first half was way more fascinating to me though. the second half came off as almost a hoax to me. at least the first half was a cool doc about street art.

DrStrong

12/22/10, 03:37 PM

thought this was great, the first half was way more fascinating to me though. the second half came off as almost a hoax to me. at least the first half was a cool doc about street art.
Exactly, Fairy seems like a prick though. If Theirry really did come up with all of these things by himself, there should be no reason for Fairy to hate on him. All Fairy did was take an already existing picture, crop it, and add the word OBEY underneath it. From there, he did the Obama picture.

Invader, on the other hand, is a genius.

meeotch

12/22/10, 03:50 PM

Finally got this coming via netflix.

Chemical Love

12/22/10, 05:23 PM

I watched the first half hour or so and thought it was boring. Never finished it.

dellico

12/22/10, 06:34 PM

The hilarious but sad part about MBW is that he's making thousands off of these pieces and all they are is him telling some graphic designer to photoshop some pre-existing photo or piece of art. He's making an unbelievable amount of money to just come up with ideas for the work instead of doing it himself.

Banksy's work is worlds better than anything MBW was doing so I can see why he was so disgusted with the ultimate creation of MBW. I really haven't seen enough of Fairey's stuff to say the same for him.

Star Slight

01/04/11, 03:09 PM

Just finished it. I loved it.

Agree that MBW is a hoax though, or at least a manipulation by Banksy

joss d.

01/04/11, 03:29 PM

i watched it the other night. it was okay.

Colorblind!

01/09/11, 10:15 AM

This was fucking brilliance.
I think it's pretty clear that the joke is on everybody and this is Banksy's most elaborate prank yet. Even if he comes out and directly says that it's true, I don't see why you'd expect a man who has made his entire career and identity a mystery to be truthful with eager interviewers.
The fact that the camera as on Thierry for so long, what MBW stands for, how he originally made money flipping old clothes for enormous amounts, the title itself...I thought it was pretty spelled out but in the end it doesn't matter who the joke's on because real or fake the film still speaks volumes about the commodification of art.
Also, I thought the last shot was great. Sorry about the lengthy post, I'm still pretty thrilled by this.

Ailite

01/09/11, 10:29 AM

Really excited to finally see this

Mibabalou

01/09/11, 10:29 AM

watched this and im still here last night

Matt Chylak

01/10/11, 09:27 AM

great documentary. not sure how I feel about it.

thesollopsist

01/10/11, 10:37 AM

yet to see this

stayillogical

01/10/11, 09:23 PM

Finally watched this. Hoax or no hoax, Banksy is a genius. The message is still there, crystal clear. My favorite Banksy quote:

"I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore."

Colorblind!

01/10/11, 10:13 PM

Yeah that quote made me laugh pretty hard, and I agree. Whether it was orchestrated by Banksy and MBW is just a pawn or whether it's all genuine, the art world is getting duped and Banksy wins haha.

coreysetfail

01/13/11, 09:50 AM

the reason i kind of believe the hoax theory is the fact that there is no way MBW had that much money to pay for the studio/the camera equipment/the art show/the plane tickets and everything else that he was doing. the whole thing about flipping old clothes for money? hundreds of thousands of dollars worth? seems unrealistic. he was just an average dude that liked film making and art. then he just picks up and makes a shit ton of money in six months by throwing paint over the top of sillhouttes of famous people? completely seems like banksy is trying to exploit the simplicity of it all or something? i don't know. it was really interesting though, i'm probably going to watch it again.

8SlicesOfPie

01/13/11, 10:43 AM

watched this and im still here last night

What'd you think of both of them? I'm Still Here gets a lot of hate but I enjoyed it.

Stavie Steelo

01/13/11, 10:55 AM

I just started recently hearing about this. Kinda want to see it because I have heard good things about it.

Matt Chylak

01/13/11, 04:04 PM

MBW is a legitimate artist. this isn't a hoax.

Star Slight

01/13/11, 04:32 PM

Legitimate how

mattjritter

01/16/11, 05:39 PM

This was fantastic.

irthesteve

01/18/11, 09:52 AM

Bansky's identity is being auctioned off on eBay, up to a million dollars:

http://mashable.com/2011/01/17/banksy-identity-ebay/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashab le)

Smash Adams

01/25/11, 07:03 PM

mQ3aRkDhice6H6zMG_napA
if you haven't seen it yet

popdisaster00

01/26/11, 09:50 AM

Finally got around to watching this this morning, and I really enjoyed it.

irthesteve

01/31/11, 09:16 PM

I like this... real or not:

http://www.slashfilm.com/potd-banksy-begins-street-art-oscar-campaign-work-brainwave/

http://bitcast-a-sm.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/ZZ4545B90D.jpg

deadkidsean

01/31/11, 09:17 PM

Doesn't sound like something Banksy would do or give a fuck about.

irthesteve

01/31/11, 09:37 PM

“This is a big surprise. I don’t agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I’m prepared to make an exception for the ones I’m nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me.”

-Banksy

deadkidsean

01/31/11, 09:38 PM

Hah, so I was right! Cool quote, though.

neo506

02/04/11, 08:24 AM

bump

the Hulu rights expire at 11:45PM PST tonight so if you havent seen it yet, get on it

DrStrong

02/04/11, 08:36 AM

God i would love to see Banksy on TV at least showing during the nominations for best documentary. It would be epic if he had the gorilla mask on.

pshh

02/04/11, 02:47 PM

i would really love to see banksy win that award

irthesteve

02/16/11, 01:14 PM

Looks like Banksy has returned to Hollywood this week

http://bitcast-r.v1.sjc1.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/ZZ6BB952FD.jpg
http://bitcast-r.v1.sjc1.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/ZZ2D279297.jpg
http://bitcast-r.v1.sjc1.bitgravity.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/ZZ3E2F750C.jpg