Review of Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) by Carsten Ø — 21 Mar 2011

An enchanting collision between two worlds; a man obsessed with his video camera, and the elusive street artist. Exit Through the Gift Shop is shown to us through the lens of the hyper but loveable Thierry who is never without his camera and becomes driven to follow his street art idols, day and night, through the streets of London, Los Angeles, and New York.

Thierry is sweet, self effacing, totally eccentric (and, some might say, bonkers) and one can't help but like the little chap. His energy levels are so astounding it begs the question - how does he do it?!.

Mainly, it appears, due to his really understanding wife who seems to do ALL the child care, housework, cooking, maintenance etc with minimal complaint, while he scampers off to film everything in his line of vision.

A chance encounter with the famous but secretive British street artist, Banksy, excites Thierry enormously and leads him to follow the man, with his video camera, everywhere he goes. Banksy, despite usually insisting on a high degree of anonymity, warms to the little Frenchman and allows him into his secretive world.

What is so charming about this film is that one has no sense of where it's going, no sense of how long it will go on, no sense of a plot and no sense of how it will end; it is just a delightful, non stop tour of two men's passions and how they collide, switch places, and live every moment of their lives pursuing their dreams to the hilt with not a worry or care.

This is living! (unlike the boring, humdrum, grinding drudgery that the rest of us pitiful rat racers go through). That's the magic of this film - energy and passion and the drive to go with it and run.

I was genuinely amused, entertained, educated, invigorated, captivated and impressed. Bravo! I want to be a street artist and a filmmaker when I grow up!