Jasper Mall

Jasper Mall was an entertaining look into the life of a mall. It's both heartwarming and tragic. As a child of the 80s, I spent much of my adolescence in malls like Jasper Mall making friends, hanging out in the food courts and the arcades, and just spending time there. So when I began watching this documentary, it brought me back to a time and place in my youth who's memory put a big smile on my face. At the same time, I was saddened and heartbroken by the fact that these places are disappearing. They weren't just places for shopping. Malls were where you met your first love, where you went on your first date, where you met your best friends, where you made so many memories, and they're going away because American culture has changed. Jasper Mall is a time capsule for the future, where one day we will look back and say "remember when we used to go to the mall?" It's a both a story of a mall as a physical entity but also as a reference point in the lives of all these invdividuals and their personal stories, from the Zookeeper turnded security and custodian, to Robin the retiring florist, and young starry-eyed interracial couple, the old men playing dominos, the tattooed hair stylist who wants to escape Jasper to do great things in her life. They all have personal stories and they're all part of the life and times of Jasper Mall.

• If I live to be in my 80s, I'm probably going to become that old dude telling corny jokes at the mall, except I'll be reciting old memes from the 2010s.
• That young couple at the fair were pretty adorable. Even though I don't know them personally, I hope they're still together.
• I also liked those old dudes playing dominoes in the mall. Kinda looks like a fun time by elderly people standards tbh.
• I wish I could believe in heaven as easily as that guy in the motorised wheelchair near the beginning.

This is the kind of thing I might've found really boring if I was in a different mood, but I quite liked it. No logical reason why I dug something like this but hated the much-loved Grey Gardens, for example, which Jasper Mall is a little reminiscent of, in some ways.

It achieved and sustained an odd sense of melancholy that was quite unique; never depressing exactly, and not necessarily nostalgic, but never quite happy, either.

As a result, it was one-note (likely by design) and a little repetitive, but I have a feeling it could stick with me for a while, thanks to the quiet but admittedly unique emotions it made me feel while I watched it.

A very sad but poignant documentary about a dying mall in Alabama. It captures the struggle of everyday life brilliantly and without narration, but there is always hope tucked away if you look.

All in all I enjoyed this documentary about a dying mall in Jasper Alabama. The film offers a cross section of people who work there and shop there as well as efforts (generally not successful) to increase foot traffic. I just wished occasionally the film makers had pulled away from the mall setting to give us some context about the larger community where the mall is set. Sure, internet commerce has hurt malls across the country, but are there shopping areas in Jasper that are prospering, such as downtown or the area where the jewelry repair shop moved to? Or is Jasper overall an economically depressed area that has gone severely down hill since the hey day of Jasper Mall in the 80s and 90s? The film would have been a much more rewarding experience for me if such contextual interludes had been provided.

A beautifully structured observational documentary. Each vignette is a little gem. You really feel as if you know these people. And like the best documentaries, it doesn't make any judgement calls about the people whose lives you're witnessing. It certainly made me wistful for the shopping malls of my youth. Love that Santa! I really appreciated the thoughtful, evocative soundtrack as well.