Secret Mall Apartment (Jeremy Workman, 2024, USA)

Jeremy Workman’s Secret Mall Apartment has recently gone viral on Netflix, and for good reason. The story has been waiting to be turned into a documentary for years, with the main figurehead of the titular mall apartment, Michael Townsend, turning down upward of 30 directors who pitched him on making a film about the story. It is perhaps for the best that the story wasn’t made into a documentary immediately, as the participants in the “secret mall apartment” have had time to reflect on the meaning of this strange art/life project. Also, our era is eager for nostalgia, and the late 90s and early 2000s were arguably the last great gasp of Gen X alternaculture - doing something just for the sake of doing it.

For those familiar with Providence’s history and place on the cultural map, Secret Mall Apartment will be especially interesting. The city birthed an art scene in the 1990s that had national reknown, particularly in the form of its noise rock scene that birthed international acts like Lightning Bolt. In an attempt to revitalize the city in the late 90s, local officials introduced the Providence Place Mall and converted one of the major local artistic hubs into commercial properties. In many respects, the “secret mall apartment” project was Michael Townsend’s form of revenge on the people who kicked him out of his original living space.

Secret Mall Apartment is filled with exuberance for a time that no longer exists. Even the footage - captured on early digital cameras - evokes a feeling of nostalgia today in our era of camera phones. While it may not be clear what precisely the meaning of this apartment was, Workman seems to indicate that this is precisely the point. For an embodiment of the Gen X ethos, look no further than Secret Mall Apartment.

8/10