"I always used to encourage everyone to make art. I don’t do that any more." -Banksy
"Life is a chess game, and I don’t know how to play chess." -Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash
As soon as I heard about Exit Through the Gift Shop, I started to doubt the premise. The concept of a documentary movie both about and by the camera shunning world famous street artist-provocateur Banksy seemed beyond unlikely. Then after seeing the trailer, I got really skeptical (rather unusual because I’m actually pretty trusting, and don’t automatically step into the doubt side).
Yet here I was prepping myself to look for subtle Fight-Club revealing moments. Would we ever see Banksy and Thierry together in the same shot? I wondered which one might be playing “the game” on The Other, sustaining a prolonged cerebral fabrication between Dueling Art-heads, two opposites acting completely genuine while purposely leaving us guessing the reality of either.