STORYLINE: In 2003, eight young Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment in a hidden space inside the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years, filming everything along the way. They snuck in furniture, tapped into the mall’s electricity, and even secretly constructed a brick wall with a locking door, smuggling in over 2 tons of cinderblock. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all its inhabitants – a personal expression of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, a clubhouse to coordinate their artistic charity, and finally, a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man.  (IMDb)

     FINALLY!! A documentary that is not political nor a fluff piece is playing.  While political documentaries and fluff pieces have the potential to be interesting it is necessary to mix things up and focus the camera on other subjects and tell other stories. That is exactly what Secret Mall Apartment does.

    The film uses its nintey ine minute runtime to focus on a team of artists who use an empty space, well, as the title suggests create a secret apartment in a mall.  The space is designed to be an art project as the artists rotate spending their time in the space. 

    The other interesting aspects of the film is the background of the artists. Secret Mall Apartment showcases there unique projects and their places in modern American history. 

    The documentary also touches on current social issues, such as white privilege and gentrification.  When addressed in the film, the social issues done overwhelm north overwhelm the film but enhance it.  When documentaries touch on social issues, they can get on a high horse, getbpreachy, and it becomes insulting to me as a viewer. I found the preservation of the social issues in Secret Mall Apartment to be suttle.

     This was an intriguing subject for a documentary to have as its subject.  It plated well as I was fascinated from started to finish. 

   Until next time I will see you at the movies!