Jasper Mall

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.

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.

The movie was so unexpected to me. I kept rooting for the store managers that have put their lives into their business. A few key retail places moved so the whole mall is dying. It is a touching story of the mall manager, who used to keep wildlife in Australia, to the older white men who like to play dominoes at the mall. It is a clip, a small view into what makes our communities work. It is worth watching..make some popcorn and watch the 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.

The documentary provides a good picture of the current state of the American middle class. The various causes of the mall's decline emerge throughout the documentary.