Sean Ellis’ Cashback, is an elongated elaboration of his Oscar-nominated short of the same time, back in 2004. At once charming, sensual, erotic and delivered with polished aplomb, Cashback is a conventional romantic comedy on the surface, with undertones of time and memory gameplay. 

Ellis’ 2004 short film, a 18-minute slingshot on how employees at a local supermarket fight the boredom of a late night eight-hour shift, forms the basis of this new, 90-minute feature-length version, with additions of character development and back stories elaborating around the original premise, with Ellis adding an Act One and an Act Three to bookend a reworking of the original short. And he pulls it off masterly, and while the time-control theme might give it a sci-fi slant, Cashback is actually a sweet romantic comedy with a brilliant concept.

 

In both films, Ben (Sean Biggerstaff – best known as Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter movies), is a gifted art college student in London, who’s imagination runs wild and begins imagining that he has the ability to freeze time. Whilst the original short film revolved around the premise of how Ben and his colleagues try to pass the long, endless hours of the night, the feature-length film, that according to production notes was actually written in seven days, actually masquerades as a philosophical movie that tries to explain one of the most eternal questions that has haunted us since time immemorial, “what is love?”. 

It starts off with Ben’s girlfriend dumping him, screaming and throwing things at him, in a really creative sequence where all you hear is Ben’s thoughts, but yet all you see on screen is the girlfriend noiselessly screaming and throwing furniture and ornaments at the male protagonist. In the following weeks after his violent breakup, Ben realises that he has insomnia and thus finds that he now has 8 extra hours every night at his disposal. To pass the time, he works the dreary 8-hour night-shift at the local Sainsbury’s supermarket.

 

Although filled with quirky and very interesting co-workers, the supermarket job is extremely mundane and the hours are slow, but soon enough, our protagonist finds that the solitude of the night shift offers an outlet for his creative side. As an arts student, his greatest gift is finding beauty in still images every second of every day. We are therefore brought on an artistic journey of unspeakable beauty, starting with a spilled bag of green peas along aisle four that Ben stares at for what must seem like eons, until his overbearing boss Jenkins (Stuart Goodwin) appears and snaps him out of his trance-like, beauty-admiring state.  

It also includes the freezing of time, and undressing women, as Ben finds a great source of interest in the naked female form. We then see, in a seamless intercutting series of flashbacks, with Ben’s voiceover explaining how he has always been impressed by the beauty of the female body, how he, as a young innocent boy, gawked at a Swedish boarder who has stayed at his place, and who had liked to walk from bedroom to shower stark naked. We also see little Ben’s friend Sean (Shaun Evans) showing him pornographic magazines.

Of course, as a film that attempts to answer the question “What is love?”, the protagonist has to have a new romantic interest after his breakup. And in this case, the new interest is Sharon (Emilia Fox), who also works the night-shift.  

Ellis is a highly successful fashion photographer known for his stunning and unique imagery and famous for his talent in creating arresting images that are iconic, beautiful, and memorable. And his image-making ability shows, as he brings us through a navigation of Ben’s life and thoughts, in a series of brilliantly mastered scenes, flashbacks, reality and fantasy.

 

Filled with well-written dialogue that’s best watched and heard than read, the film is also flushed with well-placed comedy, especially Ben’s 2 hilarious colleagues at Sainsbury’s, both of whom are dumb yet goofy who pass their time pranking people, and acting like idiots, such as smuggling phallic looking objects into women’s shopping bags and laughing at their reactions when the women pick it out of the shopping bags at the cashier counter.  

The acting is superb, with the lead characters especially standing out. Biggerstaff is excellent as Ben, full of emotion and perfectly fitting to the role of an insomniac arts student full of thoughts about love and life, while Fox has a face and a persona that serves to soothe, rather than to excite, perfect for the Sharon role. And despite the 9 years between them, the leads are splendid and the chemistry, exceptional.

The cinematography by Angus Hudson is breathtaking, and the music score appropriately sweet. The dialogue is witty, the comedic elements simple yet effective. They combine to give the low budget project a big movie feel, and will delight audiences to no end.  

Cashback is cool, without being pretentious. It’s beautiful and sensual, without being cheesy. It’s intense and creative, without being overbearing. In short, it’s a movie treat you shouldn’t miss. 

Rating: 4/5

Movie Details:

Opens: Aug 2

Runtime: 90min

Cast: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Stuart Goodwin

Director: Sean Ellis