Michael Townsend in a recreation of the secret mall apartment
“SECRET MALL APARTMENT” My rating: B+(Netflix)
92 minutes | No MPAA rating
It starts as a quirky news story, the sort of thing morning talk show hosts chat about between the really depressing news items.
In 2007 it was reported that the operators of the Providence Place Mall in Providence, R.I., had discovered a secret apartment in an unoccupied corner of the building. For four years several local artists had been using it as a sort of clubhouse, occasionally spending the night in the unheated, unairconditioned space. They had surreptitiously filled the area with thrift-shop furniture, a TV and a PlayStation.
From that tantalizing revelation filmmaker Jeremy Workman has fashioned a documentary that slowly expands to embrace not just the story of the secret apartment but an entire world view.
“Secret Mall Apartment” begins with the building of the mall in 1999. Thie project encroached on the old buildings that provided studios and living space for local artists (Providence, home of the Rhode Island School of Design, evidently is rich with bohemian types).
From the beginning the project rubbed many the wrong way. The effort at gentrification not only displaced citizens, but once completed it was obvious that Providence Place was aimed at the well-heeled, not the struggling locals. And it was a death knell for area mom-and-pop retail outlets.
Curious about this leviathan of caste-conscious capitalism in their midst, eight artists from the neighborhood began exploring the imposing edifice. Their leader was Michael Townsend, a red-haired string bean who first discovered the secret space and, ironically, became the only one of the squatters who faced criminal charges once the apartment was discovered. (In fact, Townsend refused to divulge the identities of his fellows; this film is the first time they have publicly acknowledged their participation.)
The key word here is “artist.” From the outset Townsend and his buds viewed their invasion of the mall as a sort of performance art — art that quietly defied the voracious system that had disrupted their community.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about all this is that the participants routinely recorded their activities with cheap video cameras purchased at the mall’s Radio Shack. We can see them in action, struggling to move heavy furniture through crawl spaces and up steep ladders, even building a cinderblock wall (with mysterious locked door) to keep out intruders.
Of course their activities were secret, and some of their capers (like smuggling several tons of construction materials into the building while avoiding mall security) defy comprehension. But it’s all here on scratchy videotape.
There’s more. Townsend emerges as a sort of community-minded artist-as-angel. Even while hanging out at the mall he created his own art form, using colored rolls of masking tape to make playful murals on the walls of a children’s hospital. In time the kids would make their own murals…which could be removed without damaging the paint job.
Very cool. In fact, Townsend turned his masking tape art into a small business. His attitude permeates the film…playful, modest, unstoppably creative. Nevertheless, he’s been banned from the mall for life.
But here’s the cherry on the sundae: “Secret Mall Apartment” played for a full year in the Providence Place Cinema inside the mall.
What goes around…
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon
THE RIP” My rating: C+(Netflix)
113 minutes | MPAA rating: R
“The Rip” is half a good movie…the first half.
The setup of Joe Carnahan’s thriller finds a unit of Miami cops mourning a fellow officer killed in what looks like a gangland hit. Now they respond to a tip about strange goings on at a local house.
Members of the team (Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno) find the place occupied by a young Hispanic woman (Sasha Calle) who claims to be preparing the house — her late grandmother’s — for sale.
Except that hidden in a wall the team finds several million dollars in cash. Clearly the local cartel has been using the place as a sort of safety deposit box.
And then they notice that all the other homes on the street appear to be unoccupied. Creepy.
Protocol requires that the money be counted on the premises…which means the bunch must spend several hours thumbing through stacks of money, all the while awaiting the arrival of well-armed sicarios. Why doesn’t the team leader (Damon) call for reinforcements?
This is where “The Rip” goes out of control. The screenplay by Carnahan and Michael McGrale postulates that any one of the team may be a traitor. In fact, there’s a possibility that someone high in the force’s chain of command may be pulling the strings. No one can be trusted.
The film’s opening moments are an intriguing melding of world-weariness and growing tension. With the discovery of the cash you can feel the noose tightening.
But little by little “The Rip” devolves into a b-the-numbers action flick. The cast is strong, but they’re at the mercy of the material.
Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson
“THE SMASHING MACHINE” My rating: B- (HBO Max)
123 minuts | MPAA rating: R
Dwayne Johnson gives what may be a career-high performance in Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine.”
As real life UFC fighter Mark Kerr, the Rock is practically unrecognizable beneath prosthetics and wig. He seems to effortlessly slip into the persona of a reasonably decent guy who is undone by frustrated ambitions and addiction.
Johnson’s nuanced, pain-wracked perf is only one surprise in “Smashing Machine.” The other is real life UFC star Ryan Bader, astonishingly good as Kerr’s training partner and probable future opponent Mark Coleman.
And then there’s Emily Blunt. I’m a huge fan, but here she plays Kerr’s on-again, off-again girlfriend Dawn. Talk about a toxic relationship!! Any film that can make me hate Emily Blunt has much to answer for. Despite the movie’s strong points, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 