Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010)
Yesterday’s news that the street artist Banksy’s latest work, a judge beating a protestor, has already been covered up by touchy UK authorities who are concerned that their attempts to silence the pro-Palestinian movement might be mistaken for — I dunno — fascism, reminded me of this documentary.
Exit Through the Gift Shop was one of the big hits of the 2010 New Zealand International Film Festival and I wrote about in my Capital Times column when it returned to general release, on this day 15 years ago:
As witty and teasing as his work on brick, the film purports to be a history of the street art movement but may just be the finest satire of the fine art world ever committed to digital video.
My capsule reviews were even more pithy back then. That’s what the physical limitations of the printed page will do for you.
Also in that September 2010 Capital Times review: Stallone gets the band back together for The Expendables (where I naively say, “There are pleasures to be had seeing these geezers together for the first and last time1 but who would have guessed that the best performance would come from Dolph Lundgren”), Aussie YA adaptation Tomorrow When the War Began, Gurinder Chadha’s lively comedy It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, Drew Barrymore rom-com Going the Distance, Joan Rivers documentary A Piece of Work, and two highlights from the Reel Brazil film festival — music documentary Beyond Ipanema and drama about the innocent electrician murdered by jumpy London cops after 7/7, Jean Charles. Neither of those films are available to stream or rent in Aotearoa New Zealand which confirms that the system is fundamentally broken.
I also explain why I chose not to watch The Human Centipede.
Where to watch Exit Through the Gift Shop
Aotearoa: Streaming on Beamfilm2 or DocPlay
Australia: Streaming on Beamafilm of FoxtelNow
Canada: Digital rental from Apple
Ireland: Digital rental
India: Not currently available
USA: Not currently available
UK: Digital rental
Further listening
This time last year I guested on Nights with Emile Donovan to talk about the career of the actor James Earl Jones who had just passed away at the age of 93. We mentioned the big ones, of course, Star Wars and The Lion King, but I also got another plug in for Field of Dreams. We talked about what an iconic three seconds his “This is CNN” intro was and I mentioned seeing Jones live on stage in New York in 2012.
Last count, there were four Expendables films.
Beamafilm is available for free via participating public libraries or you can pay a monthly fee or pay a la carte.
