Banksy’s film Exit Through the Gift Shop premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. The LA Times has a review…
The movie doesn’t appear anywhere in the Sundance Film Festival’s catalogue. Outside a small circle of ultra-secretive confidantes, nobody knows its director’s identity and whereabouts. And the film’s place in the Sundance schedule wasn’t even announced until last week.That hasn’t stopped acclaimed British street artist Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop” from becoming Park City’s hottest ticket.
Outside Park City’s 446-seat Library Center Theater, Banksy fans started queuing up hours before “Gift Shop’s” 8:30 p.m. screening in 15-degree weather, even if their chances of getting in were slim. The screening, which was also a sales event for the film’s representatives, Cinetic Media, felt more like a feverish night club, with Jared Leto, Adrian Grenier and uber hipster Danny Masterson (of “That ’70s Show”) in the packed house.
A film-within-a-film that begins as a chronicle of guerrilla art and its most prominent creators but morphs into a sly satire of celebrity, consumerism, the art world and filmmaking itself, “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a nearly impossible work to categorize. That doesn’t begin to describe the contradictions that surround the new movie that’s both about — and made by — the controversial and hugely popular artist.
“Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So I haven’t bothered,” Banksy said in a statement to The Times e-mailed from his publicist, Jo Brooks. “Instead this is a simple everyday tale of life, longing and mindless vandalism.”
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Read the rest on The LA Times‘ website…