“To wheat paste or to stencil?” that is the question. Starving artist or successful archetype? MBW is both. Thierry “Mr. Brainwash” Guetta comes full circle from novice non-participant observer, to force of nature during the film’s brisk 87 minute running time. Billed as “the first street art disaster movie”, it’s a rare insider’s perspective during the dawn of this some of this generation’s infamous underdogs turned superstars. Equal parts entertaining and educational, E.T.T.G.S. from the gunshot studded “Paranoid Pictures” introduction to the the final frame, it’s “anything is possible” mindset is a rare kind of movie magic. First time director Banksy does wonders with the mock trailer that was more witty and clever than either Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” or the  Tarintino/Rodriguez “Grindhouse” spoofs. Despite the fact that this is not biography of the infamous British artist who famously bombed “The Happiest Place on Earth” by unveiling a mock Guantanamo Bay prisoner complete with bright orange jumpsuit, or whose international piece that changed the West Bank into “West Banksy”, it still delivers the goods.

From the passersby that instantly recognize Banksy’s style in their camera phone’s viewfinder, in lieu of using any “calling card” on a telephone booth in the UK, to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s cameo at his “Barely Legal” 2006 Los Angeles show, the film is truly one of a kind character driven story. Featuring a who’s who of up and coming artists, from Space Invader’s first LA show at Six Space then trying to glue his rubik’s cube mosaics in plain sight all over Paris, Theirry’s there recording it all for posterity. Outlining shadows in the middle of the night, the masked “ZEUS”, fearless mo-hawked “Buff Monster”, and even the lovely Amanda Fairey scolding Guetta for coming back way past curfew. Shepard himself even gets in on the action, shown cutting out huge Andre the Giant posters on the floor of Kinko’s more than a decade ago.

I had the rare fortune to actually spin some of my favorite vinyl’s at the request of M.B.W. at his “Life is Beautiful” 2008 Art show, and to watch an advance screening with other visual artists was really a different kind of accomplishment. Paying homage to Jackson Pollock and Jean Michel Basquait’s pieces and styles, the seemingly endless imagination and skill on display is really what makes this a must-see for the stencil revolutionists or casual fans of pen and paper. It’s “Style Wars” for a new generation. (The question of whether or not “its art” or “selling out” might last as long as it takes for the city to buff his brand new pieces popping up all over town.)

To follow Mr. Brainwash’s facebook page click the link.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mr-Brainwash/71176505357

http://www.buffmonster.com/

http://twitter.com/badatsports

Big thanks to Bad at Sports’s Meg Onli, who not only introduced me to Space Invader at his first LA show, dragged me to see a young DJ Diabetic on the turntables at UCLA, but went so far as to put a Banksy tome in my hands one memorable day back in printmaking class years ago. The following is the first five minutes of the new film, which opens today in select cities, and it says it all.

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