I suspect the film will resonate more with older audiences than younger viewers who’ve never experienced a mall as a social hub.
If you have been to a shopping mall lately, chances are it doesn’t look anything like it did in the 1980s or 1990s. The bustling and vibrant atmosphere has been replaced by vacant storefronts, dimmed lights, and abandoned anchor stores. (I know there are exceptions to this but, by and large, the mall as a retail magnet is a thing of the past.) Jasper Mall, a documentary by Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb, provides a unique perspective of this trend.
By taking their cameras inside an Alabama mall and focusing on the people who work, walk, and shop there, Thomason and Whitcomb personalize the decline of malls in a way that statistics and broad stories cannot. The film documents a year in the life of the people to whom the mall remains a fixture in some form or fashion.
Mike, the mall’s security manager and head custodian, supplies a bit of backstory about the mall as he performs his daily routine. But watching him water the plants in the food court as shuttered eateries loom in the background provides more emotional impact than any narration he can provide. While obviously well-cared for, the mall is hopeless linked to the past. Despite valiant but ultimately futile attempts to drum up interest from the locals, only the increasingly older patrons keep coming back.
There’s no central narrative to Jasper Mall. Some may find it boring or tedious but I suspect that may have to do with what a person brings with them in terms of experiences with malls. The film will resonate with older audiences more so than younger viewers who’ve never experienced a mall as a social hub. If you spent a large amount of time at a mall in your formative years, you’ll have a far more emotional response to Jasper Mall.
For viewers of a certain age, the combination of images, snippets of conversation, and marvelous soundtrack create a nostalgic — but brutally honest — portrait of the current state of malls (and the middle class) in America.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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