INFINITE.

In A World Without, You Must Find A Place Within

*INFINITE.* is the debut feature film by Mike Barkhoff. A black comedy crime drama, it is set in an alternate world where censorship is lacking due to a woeful political atmosphere.

The film was filmed in early 2018, beginning a mere two months before Barkhoff graduated early from High School. It was completed shortly thereafter. The marketing lead up began a month after filming wrapped, in the form of an Announcement, and continued up until it's release on September 9th, 2018.

## Premise

In the film, Barkhoff portrays Joey Evans, a wannabe musician who is inflicted with being so used to living a life as a drug dealer in the streets. His best friend, Lucas (Jarrod Van Hauen), is no help as he simply makes their lives more difficult with his anger and tendency to act irrationally. When their boss, former kingpin of the streets, is murdered, they must begin turning to David (Emmett Kendrick) for their business operations. With his life going to shambles, Joey begins to rely on a former girlfriend from school, Sam.

## Plot

Music enthusiast Joey Evans lives in the Mid-West and sells drugs to make a living. His friend, Lucas, helps accompany him in the lonely task of accomplishing their day-to-day jobs. Together, the two manage drops, pick-ups, and handling people who haven't paid. To account for his finances, Joey works a cover-up job as an Uber driver. One day, while driving a client, Joey overhears a story about a cheating wife and the client's plan to kill the wife. Instead, Joey convinces the client to kill the man who indulged in the cheating. Together, the two go to the cheating man's house and ambush him, resulting in the client killing the man.

Joey and Lucas hide the body and try to sell some drugs before discussing business. Lucas makes mention of a new potential partner seller, and the two set out to meet him. The new boss, David, quickly gets on Joey's bad side when David laughs off Joey's offers of newfound business. Soon thereafter, Joey receives a call that his former boss has been killed, and is set up to meet the replacement. Upon doing so, he meets David, who changes their entire method of selling, again rebuking Joey's ideas for new business methods. Joey begins to abuse drugs more often than before. To try and pull himself away from Lucas, who is doing methods of business Joey doesn't agree with by working for David, Joey reunites with a girl from his High School, Samantha, and they begin dating.

Combined with giving an Uber ride to someone unappreciative of his style of music, as well as a failing music career nowhere near taking off, Joey begins to lose sense of reality. He begins to talk to himself in the mirror, imagining a reality in which he kills David. Forced into the career to make a living, however, he continues selling reluctantly.

Tensions grow between Lucas and Joey, with Lucas thinking Joey is trying to get a promotion. Tensions also grow between Samantha and Joey, due to the former believing she is getting cheated on. Joey decides to take care of the center of the problem and goes for David. David and Joey get into a fight, which ends with Joey getting a gun pointed to his head.

Joey decides to cut contact after he sees Lucas selling drugs to a minor. Joey tries to live life on his own, but continues going deeper into his frenzy of fighting the fictional reality. He decides to bait Lucas into traveling with him for a selling exchange but, upon arriving to their spot, ends up shooting Lucas and leaving his dead body. Upon returning to take care of David next, he finds out that David has hurriedly escaped from town after the discovery cops are onto him.

Joey ends up getting arrested in front of Samantha, but, with the help of his lawyer, he gets freed by pleading insanity. He reignites with Samantha, apologizing for all that he's done wrong. Sometime in the not too distant future, he kneels down to propose to her, declaring their love for one another "infinite".

## Cast

Mike Barkhoff as Joey Evans

Jarrod Van Hauen as Lucas

Emmett Kendrick as David

Ashtun O'Rourke as Sam Reese

Seth Van Wert as Kent Killsalot

Brett Mast as Inhabitant

Darla Barkhoff as Frump

Molly Dhames as Self\*

Adam Joshua Harris as News Reporter

Dylan Van Hauen as Kid

Skyler Neher as News Reporter #2

Josey Davis as Self

\*doesn't actually appear in the film

## Production

Barkhoff originally wanted to do a short film based on the Eminem song "My Fault", but upon reaching out to a musician to make a song for the project, was misunderstood and saw the headline of an announcement from the musician claiming it as a full length film.

Trying to avoid embarrassment, Barkhoff decided to pursue a full length film. A few days later, a script for "INFINITE." was completed.

Many actors only got scripts containing their scenes. Filming was scattered and out of order due to the short budget and excessive use of free actors.

The film was divided into five parts and released that way, Barkhoff did this to allow him an easier form of editing, and he continuously went back in to rearrange sequences and change music.

The first scene was the first scene filmed, and a majority of Part 1 was filmed shortly thereafter. Each Part of the film was molded after a specific inspiration Barkhoff received from films.

Major influences for the film stemmed from Taxi Driver, Drive, and Breaking Bad.

## Release

On September 9th, 2018, Barking Vans held a Release Party, where Sydney See asked Barkhoff, Van Hauen, and O'Rourke questions relating to the film. Thereafter, the film released in forty-five minute increments. It premiered at midnight with Part 1 and Part 5's upload at 2:30AM concluded around 2:45AM.

The next day, Barkhoff sat down with Zach Delfs to discuss the film at length. Their conversation carried about forty minutes.

## Reception

INFINITE. amassed more than 40,000 views in it's first twenty-four hours. On IMDb, the film obtains an 8.8/10 rating from 26 ratings.

After it's premiere, it was met with acclaim from an online audience. Notable in showing love was UGK David, who said "it felt as if Barkhoff had examined my life and chose to make a movie about it." The tip of the hats to classic mafia films and television shows were met with positive criticism, namely the Breaking Bad, Sopranos, and Taxi Driver nods.

## Analysis

Several have deduced that the film is about the effort of trying to be forgiven and thereafter freed from ones wrongdoings.

Others have pointed at the primary plot of a world lacking censorship, and in particular, have looked at the relationships in the film - the friendships Joey shares, and the romantic one - when analyzing the film, suggesting the film is about the effect of the outside world on relationships, not allowing two people to determine the status or importance of one. Primarily, the ending is deposited in this theory, as it shows Joey preparing to marry Sam, regardless of their relationship's frequent downhill moments.

## Soundtrack

The film has three soundtracks altogether, two INFINITE. (OST)'s (one by Mike Barkhoff, one by Ashtun O'Rourke), and one INFINITE. (Soundtrack) which featured many artists, in and out of the collective.

## Post-Release

Barkhoff has become somewhat critical of the film himself, saying he "disagrees with it's statement" in 2019.

"Candlelight II" was originally titled "INFINITE YEAR". The film is mentioned in Doppelgang. The film was also used heavily as comparison for Barkhoff's sophomoric entry, Windfall, due to the similarities shared.

The film's anniversary was celebrated for it's first two years via releases or announcements or posts, but the third year anniversary saw nothing, rather than clips of the film uploaded to Barking Vans.

## Sequel

In 2019, Barkhoff released a short film entitled "Patron", which was credited as a Breaking Bad fan film, a mere week before El Camino's Netflix debut. In it, Joey Evans is selling 'candy' blue drugs due to the success of the TV show. After the short premiered, Barkhoff announced he was working on a sequel, entitled "The Great Escape".

Having previously denied any thoughts of a sequel, Barkhoff explains his change of mind came from El Camino largely, as well as his conditions of living at the time. He wrote the plot out while he was away from home on a vacation, a technique he felt inspired to try after reading about how authors of novels did the same thing.

UGK David originally pitched a prequel to Barkhoff, entitled "The Impact Kidd", where UGK David would appear as himself and work with Joey Evans. Though the film has yet to come to fruition, a promotional scene was filmed but remains unreleased, and Barkhoff has stated that "the plot was there, but the time wasn't. I think we're both still campaigning for it to happen, someday."