Review #494 of 365
Movie Review of Cashback (2007) [R] 102 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.50
Where Viewed: Starz FilmCenter at the Tivoli, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 2 August 2007
Time: 4:45 pm
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
Directed by: Sean Ellis (Cashback)
Written by: Sean Ellis (Cashback)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Sean Biggerstaff (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) • Emilia Fox (Keeping Mum) • Shaun Evans (Being Julia) • Michelle Ryan ("Bionic Woman (2007)") • Stuart Goodwin (The Sickie) • Michael Dixon ("Coronation Street") • Michael Lambourne (Cashback) • Marc Pickering (Calendar Girls) • Nick Hancock ("Mr. Bean")
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Back in February 2006, Sean Ellis's short film, Cashback (2005) had been nominated for an Academy Award for, of course, Best Short Film (
read the review) and it was announced that he had secured funding to make the film into a full-length feature. At the time, it seemed like a great idea. There was so much more that could be done with Ben Willis and his time-suspending antics at the Sainsbury supermarket. So, with relish, I finally got a chance to stop by my local art house cinema and see the results of his efforts. It so happens, the film is now also available for purchase on DVD. As I nestled down into my seat with a few other independent film patriots, the new Cashback began with a break-up. Ben Willis (Sean Biggerstaff) and long-term girlfriend Suzy (Michelle Ryan) are face to face with the notion that Ben no longer feels he can live up to her expectations and make her happy in the long run. Apparently, Suzy is always looking for the greener grass, and this adds to Ben's feelings of inadequacy. Now, from the short, we already knew some very important things about Ben. First, he's an art student that prefers the female form as his subject matter. Second, he really is a good guy. Some might describe him as either woefully romantic or terribly naïve, but either way you look at it, he's a really good guy. And, third, we know this on many levels but there's no arguing on any of them about how good he is because how many guys do you know that, when confronted with the power to suspend time, and disrobe female shoppers at the Sainsbury, would simply sketch them, and not be tempted to partake of other advantages?
"… great moments, cheap laughs, sordid jokes, intriguing insights, and this 'wonderful life' ending making for a complicated film filled with things you love, hate, hate to love, and love to hate."
Of course, it's a male perspective to say he's a good guy at heart because he stops there. Probably many people would say he's not a good guy for taking even this first step on the scale of advantages. Perhaps, really, they are right. Ben is not very good when viewed that way. With this predilection toward this transgression, aside, though, in all other ways, he's a good guy. In fact, it's doubtful he even perceives this transgression because, as a student of still life drawing, he's been sketching the nude form for years in art school both male and female. Sean Ellis sets the humorous tone of the film right away as shortly after Ben and Suzy spilt for good, him into an extended spell of insomnia and her into the arms of the awaiting new boyfriend (who definitely looked like greener grass at the time), Ben is in art class sketching an elder male model with a slight problem with flatulence. Ick. With more time, Sean Ellis also is able to introduce us to Sean Higgins (Shaun Evans), boyhood best friend of Ben. Sean is both his friend and mentor when it comes to the ladies as Ben perceives Sean to be a big pimpin' mac daddy. We get to see the other side as Sean endures an endless dousing at the other end of liquid in the cups of ladies who find him smarmy and fresh or perhaps too cheeky. Regardless, he never lets up, and Ben wishes for his leftovers. As Ben's insomnia persists, he decides to take his extra eight hours a day and turn them into money at the Sainsbury by getting a job on the night shift. "Your turn in your time and they give you cashback" is the origin of the title for the million people searching Google® to try and find out what the title is supposed to mean. Honestly, it's not the most interesting point to debate about either the short of the feature-length version, but I would support a position that it is not the best title for the feature-length version. Please post your suggestions for better titles below, mine would be "Stand Still Long Enough and Love Will Knock You Down" or "Secondhand Love" or "Love in a Moment". As has already been alluded, Ben, during his period of insomnia, discovers he has an ability to suspend time—stop time. It's not really clear if he's actually stopping time or if he's slowing it down so much that he's able to move around between the seconds.
"… a funny, frank, fantasy film that's not perfect, nothing in real life ever is, but nonetheless finds a way, ultimately, to strum the strings of a romantic heart."
In the short version and, perhaps for much of the feature-length version, it's not really clear if he can actually do this or if he just imagines he can. This is a more interesting debate, actually. He is an imaginative guy. He might just be imagining all of this time-stopping, or he might really be capable. There are some events in the feature-length film, such as one moment he runs into someone else who seems to be able to stop time as well, and the ending would surely suggest that his ability is real. Again, toward him being a good guy, if this ability is real, he never uses it for anything truly malevolent or financial gain. He does play a few pranks, mostly on his Sainsbury boss, Jenkins (Stuart Goodwin) who certainly deserves to be on the other end of a few pranks. Well, it is at the Sainsbury, that Ben first meets Sharon Pitney (Emilia Fox). She seems a bit older than he is, but just as forlorn. It's only a matter of time before they realize they are a match made in heaven, and Ben will be able to sleep again at last. Would that be true were it not for Jenkins ordering up a command performance from the night shift crew at his birthday party where his younger brother, who happens to be the new boyfriend of Suzy, shows up with, of course, Suzy in tow, and Suzy, seeing Ben with Sharon, just as Sean predicts early in the story, gets madly jealous and flashes back to all that she's given up in losing Ben, cannot resist the temptation to kiss him again, just as Sharon looks up to find him at the top of the stairs in the queue for the loo lip-locked. (gulp) Now what's he to do? Sorry, I won't spoil it for you here.
So, in considering the feature-length version, the first question would have to be was it worth it? For nearly the first half of the film, I debated this constantly in my own mind. The short was magical, hilarious, sensual, and good fun. While this was mostly true so far of the feature, I kept wondering, where's this going? Is it going to work out? Some of the new stuff added are the flashbacks on Ben and Sean's childhood and their early discoveries of the female form and Ben's lack of brilliant success with girls even back then—his first crush leaves for America before he gets in his first kiss. Honestly, the debate that Sean Ellis should have quit while he was ahead, an Academy Award®-nomination for the short version was more than enough prestige, right? But, by the end, the debate came down solidly on the side of the feature for the ending is unreal and one of the most lovely and magically romantic endings I've ever seen in a movie both artistically and aesthetically it's fantastic. You've got to see it to completely understand.
Probably, it should be mentioned, for the film is not without a few weaknesses, that the big Achilles heel are the many supporting characters that never fail to emerge much beyond their caricatures put forth in the short. They are comic relief or a wise whisper from afar, but little else. On the other side, Jenkins's birthday party holds some unexpected twists of reunion in which these characters all play a delightful role. While a shortcoming, the lack of depth to these ancillary characters affords more potential to focus on the main characters and their evolving relationship that, theoretically, isn't all that bad.
Overall, the film has its great moments, cheap laughs, sordid jokes, intriguing insights, and this 'wonderful life' ending making for a complicated film filled with things you love, hate, hate to love, and love to hate. In those senses it perfectly reflects true life in the moment. Sean Ellis, in expanding upon his original short, has taken the life of Ben Willis up a few notches and really produced a funny, frank, fantasy film that's not perfect, nothing in real life ever is, but nonetheless finds a way, ultimately, to strum the strings of a romantic heart.
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Other Projects Featuring Cashback (2007)
Cast Members
Sean Biggerstaff • Emilia Fox • Shaun Evans
Michelle Ryan • Stuart Goodwin • Michael Dixon
Michael Lambourne • Marc Pickering • Nick Hancock
Director
Sean Ellis
Writer
Sean Ellis
Review-lite
Cashback (2007) [max of 150 words]
Back in February 2006, Sean Ellis's short film, Cashback (2005) was nominated for an Academy Award,and it was announced that he had secured funding to make the film into a full-length feature. Success, the feature has recently been released in independent theatres across the USA and on DVD. Overall, the feature film has its great moments, cheap laughs, sordid jokes, intriguing insights, and this 'wonderful life' ending making for a complicated film filled with things you love, hate, hate to love, and love to hate. In those senses it perfectly reflects true life in the moment. Sean Ellis, in expanding upon his original short, has taken the life of Ben Willis up a few notches and really produced a funny, frank, fantasy film that's not perfect, nothing in real life ever is, but nonetheless finds a way, ultimately, to strum the strings of a romantic heart.
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