SummaryIn 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside a busy mall and lived there for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than a prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all involved.
Directed By:Jeremy Workman
Secret Mall Apartment
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
82
User score
Generally Favorable
6.8
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
100% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Apr 17, 2025
91
Odd but meaningful, Secret Mall Apartment, is an entertaining documentary about how a group of eight young artists secretly maintained an apartment — from 2003 to 2007 — in a hidden nook in the Providence Place, Rhode Island, shopping center.
Mar 21, 2025
90
These are the intriguing ideas at work in Secret Mall Apartment, but the film works as a movie thanks to the sly way it’s been put together.
Mar 21, 2025
88
This is a delightful, thought-provoking movie that’s about a lot of things at the same time. It’ll make you see the world with fresh eyes, and probably wonder why there isn’t more art in it.
May 8, 2025
75
Thanks to its thoughtful protagonists and filmmaker Jeremy Workman, what starts out as a quirky human interest story becomes a profoundly humane portrait of creativity and community.
Mar 28, 2025
70
Secret Mall Apartment makes a compelling case that the project reverberates through the lives of the artists, and maybe even the city, to this day. Art doesn’t have to be in a museum to be valuable; it doesn’t have to be own-able, repeatable or even make sense to everyone. If it changes a few lives, then it’s changed the world.
Mar 20, 2025
70
There is a simplistic charm to the movie that captures the strange in-between times of the early 2000s.
User score
Generally Favorable
50% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
38% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
13% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Feb 24, 2026
6
An interesting documentary about a pseudo art project based upon mall squatting. The other art projects that these young people devoted themselves to are more meaningful.
Mar 7, 2026
0
The documentary was humming along at a good clip and then it got weird. Next thing I know these **** freeloaders start talking about wh1te privilege. They essentially call a security guard r@@cist because he let them go because they were wh1te. How do you know this man was r@@cist? I’ve found in life a thief thinks everyone is a thief, right? I’ve found the same thing with l1beral r@@cists. They project their h@te on to everyone else. Welcome to 2026. I quit watching. Hope they got evicted and stop stealing electricity and got real jobs and contributed to society instead of being a burden on the rest of us.
Production Company:
- Wheelhouse Creative
- Wrong Turn Productions
Release Date:Mar 21, 2025
Duration:1 h 31 m
Rating:TV-MA
Tagline:Let's All Live At The Mall
Website:
Awards
Calgary International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Independent Film Festival of Boston
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
Cordillera International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
