mastanfordma Reviews

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Exit in a state of amused bafflement

[7/10 · 21 May 2010]

An interesting film, speckled with humour, Exit Through The Gift Shop is an insightful look into a sub-culture of graffiti artists. The first half of the film is very watchable, and is mostly driven by the mystery of Banksy and his often witty and provocative artworks. Other artists are profiled, such as a chap called Invader who creates mosaics of characters from early 1980's video games and sticks them high up on buildings etc… Not sure what the point of all that is really, but it's quirky and colourful and preferable to another artist who simply stands by a passing train spraying truck after truck with a continuous stream of spray paint.

However, when the focus shifts exclusively to Thierry ("Terry") Guetta, who until this point has largely been the man behind the camera doing the filming, the film remains watchable, but was less engrossing. On the advice of Bansky, Guetta is encouraged to hold a one-man show. He then goes into creative overdrive, with a set up much like Andy Warhol's Factory, producing masses of artwork often based on works of Warhol. There is an uncertainty as to the authenticity of Guetta, and it seems the film might be a blend of fact and fiction. The audience are shown childhood photos of the Frenchman Guetta and told tales of his formative years which explain why he has had to document everything on film ever since. Yet I felt the filmmaker was spinning a yarn here to create a background to a character, and I didn't quite buy it. So when the emphasis of the film turns exclusively to Guetta and his art show I lacked empathy and identification with him. Guetta is an anomaly, he has fallen into the art world by chance, not by talent or drive. This may well be the whole point of the film: he's a real-life artist because the film says so, and therefore it raises the question what constitutes Art, and does it become Art just because we're told it's Art and it sells for thousands of dollars?

People I saw this film with were mostly baffled or just plain annoyed they hadn't seen something else instead. Without doubt it is worth seeing if there is an interest in Banksy, street art, or maybe the art world in general, but it is an acquired taste. It seems the appeal of Bansky to the masses (such as the hundreds of thousands who queued for up to six hours at a time to see his recent show in Bristol, UK) is that his work is like a witty one-liner, and the audience can quickly "get it" and smile at how clever the work is. Much like a maths student with scant regard for most art, but with an M.C. Escher or a Dali poster on their wall. Instantly they can "get it" and recognise that it's clever. And that is largely how I felt about this film. It is intelligent and well made, and although it didn't particularly engage my emotions, it raised a few smiles, and I left in a state of amused bafflement looking forward to what Bansky will do next.

Beyond the Pole (2009)

Misses the mark

[3/10 · 28 March 2010]

Few films prompt me to walk out within 30 minutes of viewing. However, I fought my urge to leave and saw it through to the end.

A mildly amusing premise, two organic, vegetarian, inexperienced, childish men set out on a carbon neutral expedition to the North Pole, may have looked good on paper, but the net result was seriously lacking and the expression "wasted potential" springs to mind.

The lead characters were irritating throughout, especially the leader of the expedition. It is fine if the protagonists are a couple of idiots who can be irritating at times, but the clever part is making the audience actually like them and enjoy watching them make a fine mess of things. Laurel and Hardy got it right. As did both the irritating, embarrassing, but highly watchable characters of Alan Partridge (played by Steve Coogan), and David Brent (Ricky Gervais) in The Office in their respective television shows.

All that could be overlooked if there was a strong intelligence and plot line driving the film. It wasn't evident. Having seen powerful films highlighting environmental issues and prompting change in one's own life (such as An Inconvenient Truth, and End of the Line), this film has next to nothing to say on this important topic. Whilst not expecting it to give as much detailed information as these films, it had little to offer other than "Save the planet!" and "The planet is dying!". Here was a missed golden opportunity to poke fun at and satirise the Eco-evangelists whilst still promoting the case to care for our environment. My reason for not walking out earlier was the hope that by watching it through to the end I may either learn something, or at least be entertained. I drew a negative on both accounts.

Although billed as a comedy the comedic scenarios and lines missed the mark. The audience of half a dozen in the usually busy cinema where I saw this film sat in silence throughout, with one singular exception; a juvenile joke was told about a Frenchman and shoes. The other attempts at comedy fell flat. A scene involving squabbling over biscuits nearly worked. But was the audience supposed to laugh at the scene when after a falling out with each other, one of the two-man team seemingly on the brink of death is in need of mouth to mouth resuscitation, so his annoyed partner simply opens his mouth and spits in it? Quite unpleasant.

It may well be that the comedy elements would work well for some people, just not for me. People went to effort to make the film. Using authentic looking locations to double up as the Arctic, it is shot well enough, and the irritation factor aside, the actors do a fairly competent job. The slobbish best friend manning the radio, and the girlfriend of one of the protagonists left worrying back home in England provide welcome relief from the main story, but again are wasted potential.

Another IMDb reviewer for this film has made the observation that there are batch of reviews singing this films praises to the hilt, often giving it 10 stars. Reading these reviews has given me far more laughs than the film ever did. One called it a good British comedy. Another suggested it has the potential to be the next Full Monty or Four Weddings and a Funeral. Both of which are fantastic films filled with humour, intelligence, and an emotional heart. A comparison of Beyond the Pole with these films will only serve to illustrate how weak this film truly is. They are as far apart from each other as the North Pole is from the South Pole.