“The American dream is dead!” – this is the sentence that can easily resume this short instant classic movie. ‘Endless Mike’ is not your glossy, pretentious, high budget film that usually impresses through opulence in terms of camera work and visual effects. ‘Endless Mike’ is a movie that begins with an idea, a topic that takes down the mood of the short, and instantly grows back on when the new person gets to the microphone, giving the story a whole new perspective.  

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We were not expecting this in a short film, and from our side of view this one is not for everybody. Most viewers are usually interested in easy movies, shorts that are made to relax, and not to raise questions. Well, ‘Endless Mike’ is the short that raises questions, messes with your mind, starts from a point A, and goes to point B all-trough the alphabet, leaving the viewer blown away in the end.

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We used the idiom ‘instant classic’ for a reason; this short doesn't have the best camera work, editing or score, but it has a story- an amazing story! Very few of the movies we get in this festival can be as touching as this one. Dean was a radio personality for fifteen years. One day, the bosses from the radio tell him that his show will be canceled because of the lack of listeners. Doing one of his last shows, Dean invites Mike, the janitor of the station, to be part of it. Mike's story changes the whole perspective on the video, and the viewer will forget about the whole quarrel Dean had with the radio people, and will focus only on what Mike narrated. At first, the story seemed inconsistent, but then the phone calls started to come, and everything got a new dimension.

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Being not that complex in terms of visual exposure as it is mainly a broadcasted radio show, director Rick Masi's ‘Endless Mike’ can easily become a life lesson as well as a really amazing audio-book... but that will come with a risk: if you play this in your car, for example, there is a good chance you will not focus on the road anymore. 

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Written by Vlad A. G