Secret Mall Apartment
| Secret Mall Apartment | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeremy Workman |
| Produced by | Jeremy Workman |
| Cinematography | Dan Kennedy Michael Lisnet Jeremy Workman |
| Edited by | Paul Murphy Jeremy Workman |
| Music by | Claire Manchon Olivier Manchon |
Production company | Wheelhouse Creative |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Secret Mall Apartment is an American documentary film, directed by Jeremy Workman and released in 2024.[1] The film recounts the story of a group of artists who built a secret apartment inside the Providence Place shopping mall in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2003, living there for four years until getting caught and charged with trespassing in 2007.[2]
The film premiered at SXSW on March 8, 2024.[3] It subsequently screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.[4]
Critical response
[edit]Michael Nordine of Variety gave the film a mixed review, writing that "The film is considerably less interesting when it isn’t directly about the actual apartment. A questionable amount of time seems devoted to convincing the audience of Townsend’s righteousness, with testimonials from loved ones and a segment on murals he made for a children’s hospital and a 9/11 memorial feeling especially hagiographic. At times it’s as though 'Secret Mall Apartment' was expanded to feature length from a more focused short, with much of its middle section added after the fact."[1]
Alex Hudson of Exclaim! rated the film 7 out of 10, writing that "Secret Mall Apartment suffers from some pacing issues, as director Jeremy Workman doesn't quite seem to have figured out in which order to lay out the different parts of the story. The story bounces slightly awkwardly between chronicling their creation of the apartment, commenting on the gentrification of Providence, and digging into Michael's personal life and other art projects. The film picks up steam by the midway point, once the personalities have finally been introduced and the stakes established. I'm not quite sure how Workman could have done it better — but waiting until the final 15 minutes to explore the breakdown of a marriage between two of the principal figures felt too late."[4]
For Point of View, Susan G. Cole wrote that "If this was act of resistance, wouldn’t it have been useful for the forces you’re fighting to know what you were doing? Who benefits, actually? And if nobody can see this clever installation, is it art? Like any fascinating meditation on the meaning of art and its potential as a political force, Workman’s doc asks more questions than it answers, which is a very good thing."[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Michael Nordine, "‘Secret Mall Apartment’ Review: Offbeat SXSW Doc Is a Nice Place to Visit, but You Wouldn’t Want to Live There". Variety, March 20, 2024.
- ^ McGowan, Dan (February 29, 2024). "The Rhode Island documentary we've been waiting for". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Coleman Spilde, "A Group of Artists Built an Apartment Inside a Mall, and No One Noticed". The Daily Beast, March 9, 2024.
- ^ a b Alex Hudson, "Hot Docs 2024: 'Secret Mall Apartment' Turns a Childlike Fantasy into a Commentary on Capitalism". Exclaim!, April 25, 2024.
- ^ Susan G. Cole, "Secret Mall Apartment Review: Artistic Intervention in a Shopping Centre". Point of View, May 3, 2024.