Filmmakers Bradford Thomas and Brett Whitcomb craft a genuinely engaging documentary by taking the viewer on a one-year journey of the mall and the people keeping it alive. In an ironic twist of fate, Amazon Prime picked up the documentary Jasper Mall, which explores the phenomenon of a once-bustling mall in Jasper, Alabama, now slowly fading into obscurity. Now they’ve been overtaken by the age of Amazon. Mainly because it was how you socialized before social media was a thing, it seems like every year that passes another mall falls into the twilight zone of empty hallways and desolate storefronts. The mall was a significant part of my life.
Jasper mall movie#
There were movie theaters, food courts, Friday night’s out at Claire’s and Limited Too. These are places from my childhood that I distinctly remember being packed with people. There are a few of these empty malls in my town that I enjoy visiting for the sake of nostalgia. Something that once served as a bustling epicenter for social shoppers now sits in slow decay as a few stores hold on and wait to see if they’ll make it. There’s something about the state of nearly abandoned malls that I’ve always found eerily fascinating. The documentary does an excellent job capturing the essence of those who rely on the dying establishment and what exactly they’re going to leave behind.Directed By: Bradford Thomas and Brett Whitcomb To many, that’s not sad, only indicative of the times. Barring a total remodel that seems highly unlikely, the Jasper Mall doesn’t have much left in the tank. Jasper Mall is a moving narrative about perseverance in the absence of a future. For all of Mike’s charm, he does get a little repetitive after a while. This can be explained to a large extent by the presence of national brands such as GNC or AT&T, but the film only focuses on a couple stores out of the whole mall. While Mike is the perfect lens to present the documentary, the frequent shots through the corridors do you leave you wondering about the many tenants that weren’t featured. Thomason and Wittcomb are respectful of the fact that there are people, mostly older patrons, who have a sense of community in the mall.
The mall itself looks pretty terrible, the kind of place you might visit if you needed something specific but wouldn’t go to for window shopping. There is almost certainly not going to be a great renaissance for the Jasper Mall. The film presents his voice without endorsing his words. Mike constantly talks about various ways to draw traffic back to the mall. The beauty of Jasper Mall is through its ability to retain an upbeat narrative while never losing sight of the inevitably bleak outcome. Several stores close during the narrative. Without K-Mart or JCPenney, two retailers who are in severe decline nationwide, the food court and service-oriented stores don’t see enough customers to sustain themselves. The departure of two of the mall’s “anchor stores,” large retailers intended to draw traffic to the mall, has had an unfortunate trickle-down effect on the tenants. The specific circumstances of the town of Jasper could have used a bit more exposition, though the film takes place entirely on the mall grounds. In many ways, this makes perfect sense, as the audience is bound to understand the reality that brick-and-mortar stores face in the e-commerce age. The film does not spend much time trying to diagnose the root cause of the Jasper Mall’s decline. He displays a genuine love for the mall and its tenants that’s easy to identify with. The film does showcase some of the mall’s tenants, including a florist and jewelry repair shop, but this is mostly Mike’s story. Much of the narrative unfolds through the eyes of Mike, a former Australian zookeeper who serves as the security guard/caretaker for the mall in rural Alabama. Jasper Mall is a documentary that showcases a year in the life of a mall on the brink of closure.ĭirectors Bradford Thomason and Brett Wittcomb have crafted a clever, quiet film about an institution in slow decay.
The world has changed quite a bit, with e-commerce wiping out plenty of shopping malls throughout the country. Mallrats succinctly captures this zeitgeist in its title. As films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless demonstrate, shopping malls used to be a pillar of American culture, especially for teenagers.
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