The tables are turned on Thierry Guetta, a man who takes his camera with him everywhere and films everything. He discovers street art while in France watching his cousin create a mosaic of a video game. From there he becomes hooked and starts filming illegal street artists. He says, "The danger makes me feel good." He had found his focus.
He starts filming all kinds of street art. He is obsessed with it. Then he meets Banksy a very elusive stencil artist from England. Banksy is very good and his works are collected by the elite and others interested in this art form. His works start to be worth a lot of money and he is art is widely collected. Thierry is forced to go through his huge collection of film to piece together a documentary that he incessantly talked about doing on street art. However, when Banksy views the film, he declares that it looks as if someone with a mental illness filmed it. Banksy decides to take over and do it himself. He does a fantastic job of capturing his subject. This nomination is well earned.
Since many of the street artists Theirry filmed had become famous, their work started showing up in galleries, and they started making money from their work. There was also less for Theirry to film. So Thierry gets the idea to create his own art and names himself, 'Mr. Brainwash'. He says he chose the name because people are brainwashed to like certain kinds of art.
Thierry uses a hugh space to create a show, much like Banksy had done. It seems like it is too much to achieve. Theirry has an accident and while on medication, he realises that what he plans to do is too much. Lucky for him, he had surrounded himself with lots of people to help. He seems a bit manic in hyping his show. He even asks Banksy to help promote it.
But the hugh hype he creates actually works and Thierry becomes the darling of Los Angeles. Thanks to L A Weekly, over 2,000 people come and line up for his show, "Life is Beautiful".
His art work is actually good. I remember reading once that madness is often found in creative genius. Well isn't genius just a step away form madness? To obsess over one's work and stay dedicated to some thing just for the love or passion of it can't be all bad.
The people working for Theirry know that there is something not quite right with him. They say that they will not be working his shows again. One person says he thinks he helped him to be successful. He even calls the people who bought Theirry's art "suckers". But Theirry causes such a sensation, that he becomes the darling of the art world practically overnight. He sells over a million dollars of his work.
The content of the documentary is interesting. I didn't want to like it, but I did. I'm not a big fan of this genre. But Theirry's show and work are surprisingly good. The preparation for it makes it appear as if it could all fall to pieces. Instead, he creates a sensation. A Lot of hype and he's famous! It works for him, very, very well.
I think this slightly mad, totally obsessed man, may indeed have found his true calling. At least he's very happy at what he does and he makes quite a bit of money from it. If only most of us could say that! Now he's also staring in an Oscar nominated documentary. I say, he's not all that crazy, he's smart too. So how do you spell success?
Rating - 3.5 stars
He starts filming all kinds of street art. He is obsessed with it. Then he meets Banksy a very elusive stencil artist from England. Banksy is very good and his works are collected by the elite and others interested in this art form. His works start to be worth a lot of money and he is art is widely collected. Thierry is forced to go through his huge collection of film to piece together a documentary that he incessantly talked about doing on street art. However, when Banksy views the film, he declares that it looks as if someone with a mental illness filmed it. Banksy decides to take over and do it himself. He does a fantastic job of capturing his subject. This nomination is well earned.
Since many of the street artists Theirry filmed had become famous, their work started showing up in galleries, and they started making money from their work. There was also less for Theirry to film. So Thierry gets the idea to create his own art and names himself, 'Mr. Brainwash'. He says he chose the name because people are brainwashed to like certain kinds of art.
Thierry uses a hugh space to create a show, much like Banksy had done. It seems like it is too much to achieve. Theirry has an accident and while on medication, he realises that what he plans to do is too much. Lucky for him, he had surrounded himself with lots of people to help. He seems a bit manic in hyping his show. He even asks Banksy to help promote it.
But the hugh hype he creates actually works and Thierry becomes the darling of Los Angeles. Thanks to L A Weekly, over 2,000 people come and line up for his show, "Life is Beautiful".
His art work is actually good. I remember reading once that madness is often found in creative genius. Well isn't genius just a step away form madness? To obsess over one's work and stay dedicated to some thing just for the love or passion of it can't be all bad.
The people working for Theirry know that there is something not quite right with him. They say that they will not be working his shows again. One person says he thinks he helped him to be successful. He even calls the people who bought Theirry's art "suckers". But Theirry causes such a sensation, that he becomes the darling of the art world practically overnight. He sells over a million dollars of his work.
The content of the documentary is interesting. I didn't want to like it, but I did. I'm not a big fan of this genre. But Theirry's show and work are surprisingly good. The preparation for it makes it appear as if it could all fall to pieces. Instead, he creates a sensation. A Lot of hype and he's famous! It works for him, very, very well.
I think this slightly mad, totally obsessed man, may indeed have found his true calling. At least he's very happy at what he does and he makes quite a bit of money from it. If only most of us could say that! Now he's also staring in an Oscar nominated documentary. I say, he's not all that crazy, he's smart too. So how do you spell success?
Rating - 3.5 stars
