BEFORE: OK, maybe a bit of an explanation is required here. When I started getting into documentaries as part of this project, way back in 2015, I started with a chain of films (non-linked by actor, it wasn't yet time for a Perfect Year, nor did I realize how easily docs could be linked) that focused on art - like "My Kid Could Paint That" and "Tim's Vermeer". Apparently I was going alphabetically, and "art" was a more interesting topic than "accounting". In that same chain I also watched docs about architecture, Lance Armstrong, Atari and bears. Yep, definitely coincidentally alphabetical. JK.
But as part of that chain, I wanted to include that documentary about Banksy that everybody was talking about - only either I didn't pay much attention to the name of the film, or (more likely) I wasn't watching films on streaming sites yet (I think I started doing that the following year) so when I saw "Banksy In New York" available on cable, I went for it. Then I found out later that THE definitive doc about Banksy was this one, "Exit Through the Gift Shop", so I noted that I'd have to get around to watching that later on, and, well, it took me four years to get to it. I've been busy, OK?
But today I watched it for FREE on YouTube, instead of paying $3.99 on iTunes. Sorry, Apple, but until some sort of consistent pricing schedule can be worked out across all systems, I'm just going to go wherever a film is cheaper. Still, it would be nice in the future if I could redeem myself for my past movie "sins" without creating new ones as I go. I'm going to have to work on that.
Christina Aguilera carries over (somehow) from "Burlesque".
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Banksy Does New York" (Movie #2,115)
THE PLOT: The story of how an eccentric French shop-keeper and amateur filmmaker attempted to located and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner.
AFTER: Since watching that OTHER film about Banksy, I watched that fake documentary by Joaquin Phoenix, where he threatened to quit acting and start a rap career - unfortunately, that's made me a little suspect about docs, because we know now that he DID NOT quit acting, and was a terrible rapper, if he was ever a rapper at all. What's real? What's fake? What's art? Does a fake documentary made in the name of art constitute a new reality, or should it just be ignored entirely? Who controls the narrative, the director, the editor, or the artist? And how do I know whether what that person tells me via the film is what really happened?
Let's back up for a second, because this really isn't a film ABOUT Banksy, it's a film directed BY Banksy, which is a little bit suspect, right there. What does a street artist know about telling a story via the medium of film? The focus of this film is really Banksy's influence on street art, and on one particular man who started as a filmmaker but ended up as a street artist. He's Banksy's polar opposite, since Banksy started as a street artist and is (apparently) now a filmmaker. Banksy has artistic talent, and this other guy, not so much. Banksy is cheeky and subversive, while the other guy just might be clinically insane.
The other guy is Thierry Guetta, who adopts the moniker of "Mr. Brainwash" before the end of the film. Supposedly (and I have to take this with a grain of salt now), Guetta was a somewhat normal guy who owned a clothing shop or two, before he found out that his own cousin was doing street art with tiles in France under the moniker "Space Invader". Since Guetta had an affinity for walking around with a video camera (filming nearly every aspect of his own life) he started filming his cousin in action, stickup up his little tile-works around Paris. This led him to take an interest in other street artists & graffiti artists working around where he lived in Los Angeles, and eventually this brought him into contact with Shepard Fairey, who was known for the infamous "Andre the Giant" graffiti and stickers seen around LA and NYC, which were labeled "OBEY", and a very famous stylized artwork of Barack Obama, similarly labeled "HOPE". (This was back in 2008, when we all still had some form of hope.)
Guetta filmed Fairey making his street art at night, and a host of other artists committing vandalism in the name of art, but he didn't really know what to do with the hundreds of tapes. Making a doc about Fairey and/or street art would have been the logical choice, but Guetta doesn't seem to be well known for his logical choices. Instead he waited, hoping one day to film the greatest, most elusive street artist, the mysterious Banksy. One day Banksy DID come to town, and the guy who would normally help him get around town committing mischief was denied entry to the U.S. So Fairey put Banksy in touch with Guetta, who enthusiastically drove him around town and showed him the best walls.
Banksy was also planning a gallery exhibition of his artwork in L.A., and of course, Banksy being who he is, he did that in a decrepit warehouse in the worst L.A. neighborhood. The show was called "Barely Legal", and featured a live elephant covered in paint (safe, non-toxic paint that kids would use, but still, animal activists were upset). Guetta at this point had gained Banksy's trust by assisting him in pulling an art prank at Disneyland - Guetta got caught and Banksy got away, but Guetta didn't flip on Banksy or cave during interrogation by the Disney security goons. So after his L.A. show was a hit, and street art became a public sensation, Banksy encouraged Guetta to finish his documentary.
One problem, though - Guetta had never even looked at his tapes, or labeled them, or kept any record of what was on which tape. Plus (and this is important) he had no experience whatsoever in making a movie - from the end result, titled "Life Remote Control", one might wonder if he'd ever even SEEN a movie. He took months to review his tapes at random, pull images or sequences also at random, and compile a 90-minute trash-heap of footage that was deemed unwatchable at best. You can view a 15-minute version on YouTube if you have the stomach for it, but it resembles what you might get if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with a TV that had an infinite number of channels, and each monkey had a channel changer.
After that, Banksy did what Banksy did best, he flipped the script. He made a movie about Guetta trying to make a movie about street art and failing, and that movie is "Exit Through the Gift Shop". Without a doubt, it's a thousand times more coherent, but whether it's true or genuine or "real", or whether it constitutes art itself is a matter worthy of some debate. Some have called this a "prankumentary", though Banksy claimed that he spent a year going through Guetta's footage of street artists just to come up with enough usable material to tell a coherent narrative here.
To keep Guetta busy (allegedly) during this time, Banksy supposedly encouraged Guetta to return to L.A. and continue making art, inadvertently creating something of a monster. Guetta had learned techniques from the master, and before long was making his own stickers, his own stencils and his own posters to put up around town, though he had all of the marketing techniques, and none of the talent. Working now as "Mr. Brainwash", Guetta got his own warehouse studio, his own production team and started cranking out the art faster than anyone could hang it on the walls. Using a quote of Banksy subtly trashing Mr. Brainwash's talent on a giant billboard, the L.A. art crowd was intensely curious, and though the show was a mess that all came together at the last minute, it was still a raging success, selling over a million dollars worth of art in a few short weeks. Guetta became the new sensation in the art world, despite having no formal art training, not paying ANY metaphorical dues, and not spending any time trying to break on to the scene and failing.
Is all of this real? Is it all a put-on? A joke or a prank? Does it even matter, if the story is good? If it FEELS real, if it has "truthiness" to it, is that enough? Did Guetta have any money left after being sued for using images that he didn't own in his show? Banksy learned not to help anyone make a documentary ever again, but honestly, it feels like Banksy sort of came out on top here. Of course, most recently Banksy got headlines again for allowing one of his pieces to be auctioned off, and then remotely shredding the art immediately after the sale, via a device hidden in the picture frame. So I think Banksy is going to be just fine, he's in good spirits and up to his old tricks again. Now, is the shredded art worth more or less than the original, pre-shredded art? Another topic to discuss.
Also starring Banksy (last not-seen in "Banksy Does New York"), Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash), Debora Guetta, Ron English, Space Invader, Monsieur André, Zeus, Swoon, Borf, Buffmonster, Wendy Asher, Steve Lazarides, Roger Gastman, David Healy, Clemence Janin, Derek Walborn, Celeste Sparrow, Adam Lawrence, Justin Murphy, with narration by Rhys Ifans (last seen in "Alice Through the Looking Glass") and archive footage of Beck, Liam Gallagher (last seen in "George Michael: Freedom"), Noel Gallagher, Angelina Jolie (last seen in "By the Sea"), Jude Law (last seen in "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald"), Jay Leno (last seen in "Gilbert"), Shaquille O'Neal (last heard in "The Smurfs 2"), Brad Pitt (last seen in "Baby Driver"), Alastair Stewart.
RATING: 6 out of 10 Warhol rip-offs
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