'Exit Through the Gift Shop' and Richard Hawley

I saw the Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop tonight. Going into it I thought it was going to be a film about Banksy, little did I know it was a documentary about his pal and long time camera man Thierry Guetta. Guetta is originally from France, but immigrated to Los Angeles where he opened up a hip vintage clothing store that Beck even digs (as featured in the film for a split second). While selling trendy threads to the celebrities, Guetta's quirk was filming his entire life. At all times the man carried a camera on him, filming everything he experienced, first hand. It was in doing this he began to follow legendary street artists such as the Invader (his cousin) and Banksy. I didn't know who the Invader was until this film, but I without knowing it had previously seen his stuff. I was looking up record stores in Paris, France before exploring the city last November and I saw a picture of a place with a little yellow space invader detailed at the top of the record store.

There's a bit of the Invader in Toronto as well. If you are observant at all, you would have noticed the tacky yellow circles lined across the street car stops. Some individual put pacman on the street car shelter gobbling up the yellow circles... I highly recommend you check out this innovative gem right now! It unfortunately was removed shortly after, i'm just so glad I had the opportunity to see it first hand.

The film showcased great edge, yet a lot of heart. It was very well-thought through. I've sort of come to realise that what makes a great documentary film for me is one that can intrigue the way a storyline the way a film can. I saw another film that really moved me at Hot Docs this year. The film is called Waste Land, an incredible documentary on Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill in the world, located in Brazil. This film was shown to the brilliant music of Moby. This brings me to the other feature I feel every film must have... a fantastic soundtrack. Exit Through the Gift Shop's soundtrack was incredibly minimal - but it did showcase a pop tune called "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" by Richard Hawley, former Pulp guitarist. The song began and completed the film. The other bits of the soundtrack was by Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, whose stuff sounds like a modest RJD2.

I really liked the Banksy film, it was extremely misleading to have Banksy plaster his art across the city in promotion for a film that he just was featured in. Regardless, I apprecite the buzz, it's definitely an exciting feeling to be able to seek out his art, it's just a shame it has to be secured in by plastic.