In doing this, Jasper Mall offers a nostalgic look at institutions familiar to all of us.įor some audience members, this method might come off as a bit underwhelming. The subjects address the camera occasionally in order to give context, but for the most part the filmmakers are interested in watching the day-to-day operations. Thomason and Whitcomb film their documentary in a cinema vérité manner, keeping things observational and almost acting as flies on the wall. Overall, the mall is seen as a home for many people and the knowledge of its eventual closure slowly but surely weighs down on them all. For some it’s a responsibility, a place to house their business, and for others, a place to hang out. Viewers slowly get to know the real-life subjects and what the mall means to them as the year progresses. The audience is guided by the mall’s jack-of-all-trades security guard/janitor/manager/caretaker, Mike McClelland. Two teenagers go through the ups and downs of high school romance at their key date location. A group of retirees occupy their time by playing dominos in the food court. Two beauticians long for leaving their small hometown. A jeweler with an episode of Columbo playing in the background is preparing to move to a new location. Thomason and Whitcomb depict a year in the life of several of the mall’s employees and frequent visitors. The mall itself is dying, slowly losing store after store after having much success in the 1980s and 1990s. What follows is a nostalgic and bittersweet look at a commodity we all have all taken for granted – something we might not even realize until we watch Jasper Mall. They spend a year filming in the titular mall in Jasper, Alabama, about forty minutes northwest of Birmingham, capturing the lives of its shop owners, security, and customers. This irony is explored in directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s documentary, Jasper Mall.
The shopping mall, defeated mostly by the surge of online stores, is a dying breed that suffered its fate by the very people that once kept it alive. What was once a humongous fad that offered cities countless revenue and enabled citizens to shop and socialize has now all but almost disappeared completely.
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