Genre: street-art documentary mockumentary film, graffiti artists finally getting some credit, hooligans getting way more credit than they deserve
Starring: Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, Thierry Guetta
Directed by: Banksy
For fans of: art, graffiti art, street art, art?

ONE MINUTE SUMMARY
Thierry Guetta, an amateur film-maker, gets caught up in the world of graffiti, recording some of the most modern and brilliant young rebel artists in the world today. The only problem is- he’s not a film-maker after-all. No problem really, he simply decides to become an artist himself.

COMMENTS

REAL?
I don’t care. This is a fun, interesting look at what kinds of art are being made today.  It’s obviously been highly produced and edited, and as soon as a camera is in front of a person, that person is acting. The only thing that is true is the art. It’s there: you like it or you don’t, but it exists fixed and unmalleable.

ART
It is unbelievable how far these guys (and one girl) will go to get their art shown. Climbing billboards, dodging police, staying up past 2 AM: they’ll do anything. It’s too bad that some of them don’t practice, from the beginning, inside the system. Many owners would love to spruce up their buildings with a fresh coat of paint that looks like Leonard Nimoy with Marilyn Monroe’s hair. Well, maybe not that, but some of these paintings are really good, and they would still look good if put up legally.

BANKSY
There’s no way that you can call yourself outside the system if your work is being sold for millions of dollars in auction houses such as Southerby’s. Banksy worked hard, did his art in unconventional ways to try and get attention, and now he’s made it into the art world. It doesn’t matter if we don’t know your face, you’re still in the mainstream. I’m just surprised that this is the goal for many of the graffiti artists in this film. I would have thought that they were rebelling against the way art is made/produced/sold, but instead, it seems like it’s just another gimmicky way to get yourself noticed.

OVERALL RATING: 7 out of 10

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