Who what?
Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010) is a 'pseudo-documentary' of the British graffiti artist Banksy, the street art stencil legend. Not only has his talented work brought him exorbitantly priced sales but he has remained invisible throughout - no-one has ever seen him! But the film isn't about his life: it's about the French shopkeeper-cum-fan-cum-filmmaker who wanted to make a film about Banksy. Nor did it debut at Berlin this week, but at the Sundance festival in January.
Trailer: 'Exit Through The Gift Shop'
Why should I go and watch the film?
To (re-)discover the world of street art. To appreciate the humour and irony of Banksy as well as his sector, which has been delivered via a pacifist rebellion
Strong points
Excellent description of the world of graffiti. Good rhythm for a film. Lots of creativity, self-derision and that oh-so-British humour. Banksy succeeds in thumbing his nose at the pitfalls of modern art - i.e. saying it's in just because it's 'in'
Weak points
Have you ever heard a French person speaking rubbish English for an hour? Unbearable
Rating out of 5: ****
4/5: a bit of humour, irony and self-mocking in this world of depressed people, cameras and mainstream Hollywooders does some good
Post-premiere reactions
Laughs from the first minutes into the film when Banksy announces: 'This film is good, I think, especially if you're not expecting much.' Huge disappointment at there being no press conference though ;)
Watching this film will make you want to
Run and find this Thierry Guetta alias Mister Brainwash, who is allegedly based in LA - does he really exist? Or is it another one of Banksy's pranksies...
By Sebastien Vannier live from the Berlin film festival
Check out images of our curious correspondents in Berlin going on the Banksy mystery hunt in Berlin here
Definitely the screenplay and of course Dennis Lehane's original book. The story will exasperate you throughout. Berliners liked seeing Leonardo Di Caprio speaking a bit of German
They take action to revenge those men, who treat them as sexual objects or as mere "pretty women" waiting to be saved. Most of the film's plot is set in Mexico, but the fact that these girls are Spanish is constantly mentioned to explain their tough behavior. Mind you, these references come form the lips of male characters looking for cheap explanations for the girls "abnormal" activities. Regardless of the criminal milieu, these women here are actually standing up for maltreated females all around the world. Therefore, besides the flamenco dancing and bullfighting references, the film does not communicate a message about Spain or Europe specifically.
insufficient staff, violent students and latent ethnic conflicts. The school becomes a social hot spot where different cultures, classes and religious views clash with each other. Good-will of the teacher alone can not solve the problem. Sonia Bergerac (Isabelle Adjani) is completely overstrained with her job in front of tyrannic students. Eventually she decides to bring a gun to class and introduces radical new teaching methods. Things escalate when she gets involved in a hold up that involves students, parents, police, a desperate principal and voyeuristic media alike. Lilienfeld has produced a drama which is sometimes a bit far fetched, but which refuses easy guilt patterns. Politicians, teacher and students are equally accused. The message is clear: all of them have to get back in the boat to save an ailing education system. 
the chaotic relation of Adria (Rie Rasmussen), half Serb, half Albanian and the deserter Srdjan (Nicola Djuricko). Both flee out of the former Serbian part of Kosovo and take on a career as racketeers and arms dealer. A different narration shows Adria separated from Srdjan in Marseilles, where she is an illegal immigrant. Flashback sequences connect the two narrations and locations. Rassmussen makes the audience hop from Adria’s love quest in France to kosovar trauma and pain with a bit too much ease. She neither depicts an authentic way to come to terms with the war past, nor does she dress a psychological portrait of the characters. Adria is a freak, who knows how to survive by the means of violence. But what for? Rassmussen’s character doesn’t know the answer and does not search for it. And when this stylised Lady walks in high heels over piled cadavers we rather tend to think of “Human hell” than a “Human Zoo”.
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