Vigilante Vigilante: The Battle For Expression

Dir: Max Good
USA/2011/86mins
Print Source: Max Vigilante - contact@vigilantefilm.com
Web: Vigilante Vigilante

Graffiti has long decorated the urban landscape, but it has new adversaries in the figures of self-appointed anti-graffiti vigilantes. These lone individuals are dedicated to keeping the environment free of all street art, posters, tags and graffiti.
 
Their own activities may not be part of the solution they imagine, as these vigilantes slop grey paint over luminescent art, rip-down posters, tear down stickers and worse.
 
Following these wannabe guardians of urban space, verite documentarians Max Good and Nathan Wollman examine all aspects of street art, and – via interviews from numerous artists and others – they overtly and covertly explore not just the visual contributions that it gives to cities but the various ways in which we all engage with the urban environment. What’s at stake may be nothing less than the right to free expression.
 
Director Good never preaches, even though his views are apparent, but lets his subjects – even those he clearly disapproves of – speak for themselves. Taking his pace and energy from the speed of the street, what follows is a surprising and rapid-fire exploration of the need for creative freedom.