Banksy Does New York

We watched this last night and it was pretty good, not great but if you are into this sort of thing, a good watch. Shows the greed people have for money. Also makes me wonder why modern stuff like this is destroyed yet cave drawings are saved as valuable or fenced off and charged admission to see. It's an interesting documentary for sure.

This was an interesting movie. I learned a lot about Banksy that I didn't know previously. Banksy's art is very creative and inspiring. Not just the graffiti, but the installation pieces were really great. And as mentioned in another review, the greed that people have is on display in sad ways.

While it's not in the same graffiti clad ballpark of the fantastic Banksy starring and directed doco Exit Through the Gift Shop, the HBO produced Banksy Does New York is a fun, to the point and most importantly insightful look at the time the illusive artist took over New York for one whole month and for fans of the street artist, this will be a must own as the quintessential documentation of the artistic event.

Banksy Does New York does a great job at showcasing just how big of a deal this event was in 2013 and it does this by utilising not only talking heads who were apart of the "scavenger hunt" at the time but also footage shot by those on the ground level, news broadcasts and of course great use of audio snippets taken directly from Banksy's official web presence's that allow slight insights into what the works he produced meant, from the menial through to the political and even for those that think Banksy is nothing more than a glorified street artist, there's little point denying that his work is constantly engaging and often bitingly satirical.

While there was work done within the month of Banksy's New York residency that isn't overly memorable, there were certainly some stand out works that Banksy Does New York shows off and interestingly follows up in ways that shine a whole new light on the works of the mysterious figure.

Fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions at auctions around the world, the works of Banksy have become highly sought after pieces and it's hilarious and also shocking to watch as people either clamber to deface his street works or take them for their own gains. It's an eyebrow raising trend of modern day humans that will see them quickly turn feral for the thought of $$$ and it therefore makes Banksy's pieces more than meets the eye.

Banksy Does New York never tries to preach or convert anyone to anything (a nice change from most modern day doco's) and merely exists to show an unbiased documentation of a time in New York City where the greatest ever art focused scavenger hunt took place, a ride we can feel a part of thanks to this film.

3 quick thinking mechanics out of 5

Ten astronomical furnaces in the sky as a reward for Banksy's thoughts and how they are expressed, and also to the creators of the doc for tenaciously following the leads searching for each day's presentation (in NY traffic no less) and then adding a range of pov interviews. But, lowered a couple of stars to express disgust with the greed and narrow self-interests of those who took advantage of the attention to enhance themselves by damaging, stealing and selling. Further disgust to the politicians, developers and property/slum owners in deriding the street art as defacing when they are either distant from or profit from those already visually debasing structures. And, where renovations occur they often give most benefit to the distant wealthy and connected.

If you've seen Banksy's terrific film "Exit Through the Gift Shop" or enjoy his art, then you owe it to yourself to see this wonderful documentary. While no one publicly acknowledges who Banksy is and we presume the film was not make with his assistance (who knows?!), it follows the hysteria that occurred back in 2013 when Banksy had a HUGE publicity coup. He announced via the internet that he would make a work of art every day in New York City....and a sort of scavenger hunt began of his fans trying to find this hidden art. In each case, Banksy was able to make the works of art without anyone seeing him doing this and maintained his aura of secrecy. The film follows folks from October 1st through the 31st and I particularly loved it because of Banksy's sense of humor and social commentary. Describing how he did all this could perhaps ruin the film. I suggest you give it a watch and enjoy the craziness and fun that occurred during this weird month!