Cashback

A lackluster romantic comedy filled with cliché and one-liners.

Developed from his own short film, Sean Ellis’ feature debut Cashback tells the story of London art student Ben Willis. Having just broken up with his girlfriend, one of the side effects of this painful break up is Ben develops insomnia, struggling to cope with his new found disorder he takes on a job working the night shift in a supermarket.

It is on this late shift that he meets a colorful cast of employees, each of them with their own “art” of getting through the boredom of an eight-hour shift.

Ben develops a unique ability, stopping time gives him the chance to capture what he considers to be true beauty, like most young male university students, Ben believes this true beauty lies under the bra and knickers of the late night shoppers. Ben’s extraordinary gift allows him to spend as long as he likes sketching and painting the female figures of the unaware customers.

Sharon is the kooky checkout girl whom Ben develops an interest in, his competition within the supermarket males is weak to say the least and provides some lack-luster comedy. Sharon may be more than just a girlfriend to Ben as he discovers she could be the answer to his Insomnia problem.

Cashback is suffering from an identity crisis, its soft narration and exploration of true beauty drag it towards an art house movie. Yet the dialogue furnished with wise-crack one liners and bad boy banter force it into an immature comedy, the female characters are no better, only ever portrayed as male fantasies or clichés. Sean Ellis is a renowned fashion photographer who has worked with huge names from Jean Paul Gaultier to David Lynch, his eye for composition is apparent yet the over use of the freeze frame effect becomes tired as the film progresses.

Often novel to film adaptations fall flat, can the same be said about short film to feature adaptations? We believe this is the case with Cashback, what works as a short film may not work when stretched out over 102 minutes.