Pre-Ramble:  Every now and then I feel compelled to write about a movie. Sometimes it’s because the movie was unbelievably good and sometimes it’s because the movie was unfathomably bad. In the case of “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” it wasn’t so much good or bad, as it was thought-provoking.

Nothing like having your thoughts provoked.

“Exit” is billed as a documentary about the covert world of street/graffiti artists. Created and directed by “shadowy British street artist,” Banksy,” whose stencils of rats and puckish acts of mischief have made him a huge international success,” the quirky film is at once captivating and  irritating, raising as many questions as it pretends to answer.  Washington Post staff writer, Ann Homaday describes the film,

A celebration of pranksterism and perhaps a superb prank in its own right, the documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop” captures the outlaw, monkey-wrenching glee of the graffiti artists who became art stars at the turn of this century, while raising profound questions about authorship, the truth claims of nonfiction film and that old chestnut “What Is Art?”

Punked.  Unlike the blatant tone of classic “mockumentary” spoofs like “Best-in-Show” and “This is Spinal Tap,” “Exit Through the Gift Shop” defies profiling. Reviewers are taking all kinds of contortions trying to characterize … the story, … the “actors,”… the ultimate message here. 

As usual, I almost love the commentary on the film more than the film itself.  NY Times  reviewer Jeannette Catsoulis, describes a seminal moment wherein the hapless guy behind the camera decides to mount an exhibit of his own work, …

“… what appears to be a display of blatant knockoffs and cut-and-paste pop trash that is nevertheless fawned over by gullible collectors… Street interviews with ecstatic attendees give way to a sniggering Banksy, who seems both gratified and embarrassed by his [role in the farce] … Whether acting as a genuine friend or constructing an elaborate long con, Banksy has clearly found a new canvas for his provocations. Scrutinizing the commodification of street art and the lemminglike behavior of many enthusiasts (including those who pay millions for his own work), Banksy mischievously exfoliates the next-big-thing hunger and the posers who pursue it.”

The Take Away:  Once I was able to embrace the fact that the work of these miserable punks artists was more than a defiant act of vandalism, I could appreciate it for what it was — an enthralling, mischievious, between-the-cracks commentary on the largely unexplored dynamic of public space. Often the sprayed-on/glued-up graffiti begs a haz-mat team … But sometimes, as in the case of Banksy’s poignant rendering of a young child looking at a beach scene through a bombed-out hole in a cement wall (above), the street art provides an element of interest and color in an otherwise bleak, desolate environment. And, on another level, the juxtaposition of the work to its surroundings engages us in a shade of meaning that transcends both the art, the artist and the environment to reach a deeper truth.

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