Exit through the Gift Shop 2010

Flagrantly attention-seeking but famously anonymous, Brit street-artist/prankster Banksy has now put his name to this energetic, headily entertaining item of art-world provocation. The film was supposed to be about him, and ultimately it is, but Banksy turned the camera on Thierry Guetta, the wannabe LA artist who was documenting his activities. Unhappy with Guetta’s footage, he provoked him to go off and create some gonzo art-market capital for himself – with disturbing results. Audiences elsewhere have been indulging in wild speculation about the true nature of Banksy’s participation. Who’s pulling whose strings here? A great time is guaranteed figuring out your own take on the myriad issues at play. — BG

“Exit Through the Gift Shop bills itself as ‘a Banksy film’ and ‘the world’s first street art disaster movie’. If it is indeed directed by the artist who goes by the name of Banksy, it is one of the most inspired, adroit, hilarious debut features ever (please quote this on the poster), but one should expect no less from the mystery man who printed Lady Diana £10 notes, painted nine graffiti images on the Israeli West Bank barrier wall, and placed an inflatable effigy of a Guantánamo prisoner in Disneyland. These and many other profoundly political works, executed with great panache, are glimpsed in the movie, which also includes many freshly minted Banksy aphorisms… However it came into the world, it is a joyous addition to the potential catalogue raisonné of the artist who turned Warhol inside out by proving that anonymity is cooler and more difficult to sustain than fame.” — Amy Taubin, Film Comment

“A witty and dark provocation” — Brannavan Gnanalingam, The Lumiere Reader