Andrew KuchlingMovie review: I went to see SECRET MALL APARTMENT, a documentary about the time eight artists found their way into an unused corner of a mall in Providence, Rhode Island, and furnished the space, turning it into a sort-of-livable apartment over the course of four years before being discovered. It begins as a story about gentrification and early-2000s punk, takes a more serious turn when we find out what the artists were doing with the rest of their time, focuses on Michael Townsend who was the ringleader of the project, and turns into a discussion of the nature & purpose of art.
There are funny moments, including one excellent editing joke, and another sequence that made me cry – you may find there are two of these.
Today was the last day of PyCon US 2025, an event that's devoted to all sorts of collective projects, and this documentary really resonated with my past three days: the apartment is a quirkier but similar group effort, and the artists ask themselves some of the same questions that open-source developers do: "when is it done?" "who is this for?" "is this really a good use of our money/time?"
Here's a 3.5/4-star review by Matt Zoller Seitz with more details: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/secret-mall-apartment-film-review-2025
