This is the third time I’ve watched this film and just like every other time, by the end I felt like I’ve been duped by Banksy. Thierry Guetta is set up as this sleazy former clothing storeowner who obsessively stalks and overruns his own and others’ (cohorts and celebs) personal space with a video camera glued to his hand. There’s one point in the doc where the filmmaker explains the reason behind Guetta’s obsession while earning viewer empathy, but this identification of Guetta was later replaced by a maniacal caricature of a street artist on a mission to brainwash the art world.
Despite Guetta’s outlandish antics and inflating self-promotion throughout the doc, he was undeniably an intrepid cameraman and was able to capture footage from dangerous and difficult angles. Shepard Fairey corroborates Guetta’s willingness to face these hazards and calls Guetta his accomplice. We see one of these shots where Fairey is shown putting up work on a rooftop from an even higher viewpoint.
In the beginning of the film there was also some B-roll footage that established the gutsy nature of graffiti and street art. Many of these shots provided a good behind-the-scenes look for how graffiti gets to the high places they live on, including this highway sign in Vancouver.
Street art like Invader’s can be interpreted from a lot of interesting angles. Placement of work may sometimes be chosen by convenience but often it’s strategic. The eye lines of these Pac-Man ghosts are drawn to another subject on the lower left corner, telling an interesting photo story.
Banksy’s silhouette makes a great shape for his talking head shots. This frame in particular is eye-catching because of the surrounding negative space and silhouettes around him (the rats to his left). There’s also the image of the larger piece to his right where the subject’s eye line is drawn towards him.
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