trendaway.com

Cashback is a feature film in which director Sean Ellis embedded his 18-minute Oscar nominated short film of the same name. It stars Sean Biggerstaff as Ben, a young man whose recent breakup has induced insomnia. He gets as job on the night shift at a supermarket, where he discovers that he has the ability to stop time.

Ben is a gem of a character. I found myself drawn into his story and the flashbacks to his childhood. I also really liked Sharon (played by Emilia Fox). Parts of the film and certain characters, however, seemed like filler, and I am curious to see what was added to turn it into a feature-length film. (Apparently the Cannes cut was twelve minutes longer, so perhaps they initially added too much.) I found that some of the characters and the humour derived from them tended to take away from the story rather than add to it.

There were a lot of striking shots and great transitions between scenes (when going into a flashback). It is refreshing to see some organic special effects being used. The time-freezing, Ellis revealed in the Q&A after the screening, was often done by literally having people stand still.

Overall, I’d say that I liked Cashback, and really liked parts of it. It is fitting that Ellis’s film is presented as part of the Discovery Programme – an series of films featuring first- or second-time feature film directors who are likely to do some great work in the future.

Below is a photo I took of Cashback’s star Sean Biggerstaff and director Sean Ellis, at the film’s Q&A:

***
Cashback (2006) * Director/Writer: Sean Ellis