JUNE 17, 2025
‘Goodbye Mondays’ presents the drama of a newly hired maid who, from her very first day at work, comes to see how money is made, and what the taste of a tough job is. Lucy, a twenty-something girl tries to put her life together in some way, and by chance, she finds a job that helps her achieve not only some revenue but also some professional skills. She works in the house of a rich woman, who, as we can see from the beginning, has less than zero respect for her maid, humiliating her in a dominant way every time she has the chance. At some point, the phone rings and a man asks Lucy if she knows where his wife might be. After he receives the wrong answer, he finds a mischievous way to get back at the woman.
'Goodbye Mondays’ has some grim moments when you don’t know what’s going to happen next. What we loved in Michael Salmon’s short film was the completely antithetic ending that turned the whole story upside down. Even though the story was based on an old dad joke, it is still really well made. The moments of suspense are amazingly done, the main character has the same fear and determination in her eyes as Edward Norton has in ‘Fight Club’ right before his first fight. On top of that, the score is embroidering the narrative with superb mood lifters that leave the viewer breathless. You will notice that there is a gun in this short (a gun that, of course, is used at some point)– that particular scene, when Lucy gets to the cigarette holder and lights a cigarette assures the viewer that the worst has passed, and the movie is going on an easy path. Here, Salmon changes the rhythm for a second only to break it in the next scene.
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Review written by Vlad A.G
When it comes to its narrative construction, we can assume Michael Salmon was inspired from all time rock ballads, another reason why his project has the previously mentioned brief changes of rhythm leaving the viewer both confused and satisfied in the end. ‘Goodbye Mondays’ is the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ of short films, having the same change of pace, the same exploding rhythm, and an absorbing story that will stick with you for a long time.
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