There's no one like Thierry, even though his art looks like everyone else's.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

(2010)

Banksy’s “Is it a spoof or isn’t it?” is both fascinating (in its potted history of street art) and beguilingly oddball in the deluded persona of the main protagonist, Thierry Guetta (aka Mr Brainwash).

But there’s a less-is-more-quality to Guetta (who we learn was obsessed with videoing street art but would leave the thousands of tapes gathering dust unviewed and unedited), such that once he is unleashed as a street artist cum art-buyers’ darling (being met with instant success) the (mock) doc becomes much broader and ultimately less engaging.

It feels like Chris Morris has employed Andy Kaufman in an elaborate (and successful, given how much money Mr Brainwash has made) scheme to hoodwink the art world. But then both got a bit bored and threw a load of Inspector Clouseau antics into the mix. The result is that the last third of the doc is a fairly lowbrow pisstake of fly-on-the-wall reality TV shows, in itself not a very original concept. Up until then, however, this is first rate.

****

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