This is a Documentary.
Amateur filmmaker Thierry Guetta's project to chronicle the underground world of street art takes a fascinating twist when he meets Banksy, an elusive British stencil artist, in this Independent Spirit Award winner for Best Documentary. Unimpressed with Guetta's footage, Banksy takes over filmmaking duties while Guetta reinvents himself as a street artist and -- much to Banksy's surprise -- instantly becomes a darling of the Los Angeles art scene.
This may be one of the most ambitious documentaries I have had the pleasure of watching all the way through. It features an amateur filmmaker named Thierry, who starts discovering the magical underground world of street art. He becomes so addicted to this bizarre new way of life; he must capture it all on his camera. This is essentially what makes up the first half of the story. The people Thierry crosses path with show him this new world and how images he once never noticed were actually small parts of art. The stuff he captures is mostly underwhelming, but once he meets the infamous Banksy, the dam comes down. The end products that come from Banksy’s work truly are magnificent to see, even if we only see them on film, rather than physically in our eyesight. It is not until Banksy starts to be annoyed by Theirry and his view on the garbage he thinks is art that the film turns a 180 on its audience.
The rest of the film not only describes what Banksy thinks of Thierry, but if I understand the message correctly, it is also what he thinks of the people watching. He decides to takeover Thierry’s documentary because it was headed nowhere. Thierry is and will always be an idiot. When Bansky starts displaying Thierry and the show he is going to do, he shows it in a manner that allows the viewer to see how easily people can be manipulated into thinking things. Simply due to the amount of pre-hype Thierry gave his first art exhibit, people flocked to see this new artist in town. We are shown backstage the pointlessness of Thierry work, yet the people seemed to love it because it was expected of them. There is a scene near the end when Thierry spray paints a wall and its completely random junk that many people would indeed call “art”, but then the wall gets torn down and its become the garbage it was in the first place. This simple shot divides the audience into who they are. The kind that loves Thierry and the kind that does not.
The ambiguous interpretation Banksy has on mainstream work allows the film to live on even after the credits roll. It makes you question what art is. How does it come to form? What is the difference between junk and a masterpiece? That is up to you to decide. The debate on whether the characters in this film are real, but does that really matter? The message was loud and clear and this opens up your eyes into that same world. You could very well be Thierry. That’s the brilliance in the way it was shot.
*Now in the only way I can see fitting, this movie is going to get the score I think Banksy wants it to get; A big fat zero. I find it very ironic that Banksy spends an hour telling its audience how easily people can get manipulated into thinking something pointless is valuable, yet here he is getting worldwide critical acclaim to his film. Do I think he loves this film? No, but I do believe he wants his audience to. I am not falling for that one, Banksy, you cannot fool this cat.
Overall Score: 0*/10
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