I don’t know much about street art.  While I probably know more about street art than the average person walking down the street, that’s not saying much.

My enjoyment of Exit Through the Gift Shop did not suffer because of this lack of knowledge.  Banksy, along with whoever assisted him on this project, does an excellent job of explaining the history of the modern street art movement.  Even better, he does this without coming across as if he’s trying to explain the history of the modern street art movement.

Important piece of information:  Exit Through the Gift Shop is not a documentary about street art.  It’s also not a documentary about Banksy, noted street artist and the director of the film.  No, the film is actually about Thierry Guetta,  a man obsessed with filming the world around him.  When he stumbles upon the world of street art through his cousin, a street artist who goes by the name Space Invader, his obsession finds a new outlet.  He begins to travel the globe, filming his cousin and other street artists as they brave danger and arrest to produce their pieces.  Claiming to be working on a documentary, he gets access tomore and more artists, except for the one artist who eludes him, the infamous Banksy.  He finally makes contact with Banksy, and after he almost gets arrested helping him place a piece in Disneyland, Banksy invites him further into his inner circle.  Hundreds of hours of footage are shot, and eventually Banksy demands a finished product.  When Banksy discovers that Guetta has no idea how to turn the countless hours of footage he has shot into an actual film, he takes the project over, sending Guetta off to make his own street art.  Guetta takes on the name Mr. Brainwash, hires a team of artists to translate his ideas into actual pieces, and with promotional assistance from Banksy and Shepard Fairey, he of OBEY and Hope fame, he is able to transform himself into a successful artist, with pieces selling for thousands of dollars.

It’s the kind of story that you couldn’t make up, and if you did make it up, no one would believe it.

Or would they?  As I watched it, there was a part of my brain that kept expecting Andy Kaufman to show up.  Thierry Guetta looks and feels just a little too much like Tony Clifton, the fictional character Kaufman created, sometimes played, and never admitted to being.  As I watched Guetta’s story unfold, I couldn’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, this is an elaborate hoax created by Banksy with an assist from Fairey.  Is Guetta a real person, or an actor?  If the character of Guetta is indeed a hoax, who is the joke aimed at?  The genius of Exit Though the Gift Shop is that it works as a movie no matter which of the premises you decide to accept, the straight on documentary or the elaborate hoax.

And if you walk out of this movie without a few more questions than you had when you walked in, you simply aren’t thinking enough.