MOVIES: Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy, 2010)

Exit Through the Gift Shop starts as one movie before detouring into an entirely different story midway through, and it's entirely possible that the entire things is an elaborate hoax. Whatever is really happening -- and the very definition of words like "really happening" is a large part of what the movie's about -- it's a fascinating, hilarious commentary on the modern art scene.

The movie focuses on the relationship between Banksy and Thierry Guetta. Banksy is England's most famous "street artist," the currently trendy label for practitioners of graffiti and other creative endeavors that sit at the intersection of vandalism and art. Guetta has been following Los Angeles street artists with his videocamera, with vague ideas about making a documentary about the street art scene (despite having no experience or prior interest in filmmaking).

The two men eventually meet, and for a time, Banksy is amused by Guetta's near-obsessive devotion to his project (and to Banksy himself). But eventually, as much to get rid of him as anything, Banksy sends Guetta back to Los Angeles with the suggestion that he should be making art of his own and maybe "put on a little show." And suddenly, we're in an entirely different movie, a cautionary tale about how easily the modern art world can be conned into thinking that it's seeing something important.

Because with a well-timed cover story in an LA newspaper and a few generous quotes from Banksy and his friends, Guetta -- now calling himself "Mister Brainwash" -- is suddenly the toast of the city's art world, and his debut exhibition is drawing enormous crowds. Banksy, meanwhile, looks on in apparent horror at the Frankenstein monster he has helped to create.

Now, all of that would be interesting enough, but there has been much speculation that Guetta isn't exactly who the movie presents him as, and that he may actually be another creation of Banksy (some of the rumors go so far as to suggest that he actually is Banksy, who's never been caught on camera), and that everything we're seeing is simply Banksy's most elaborate art project, an enormous commentary on the role of hype in modern art. Certainly Guetta is almost too colorful a character to be believed -- a French native with giant sideburns, an Inspector Clouseau accent, and an all-too-convenient penchant for carrying his videocamera everywhere (and an even more convenient backstory to explain that quirk).

So are we watching a documentary or a hoax? Is Guetta/Mister Brainwash an artistic discovery, or a participant in a brilliant con game? Either way, the movie's a terrific piece of entertainment, as we watch Guetta and his team of assistants put together a massive art show despite his own incompetence, and listen to Banksy's viciously dry commentary on the increasingly out-of-control whirlwind.