Cashback Review (Ellis, 2006)

Ben Willis: "I read once about a woman whose secret fantasy was to have an affair with an artist. She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique."
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It seems I always start my yearly movie list with a bizarre indie film about romance. Last year I started my "movie list" with Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, which was a decent movie, but strange and slow. Cashback is a significant improvement from that particular movie, but missed a few things for it to be a "perfect" movie in my mind.

Cashback is an independent film by Sean Ellis, staring Sean Biggerstaff (who most people will know from his role as Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter movies). It is about an art student named Ben Willis who develops insomnia after a breakup. To make some money for these "extra 8 hours" he works at a supermarket where he learns that he can freeze time.

The film is based on an Oscar nominated short film of the same name, which was integrated into the beginning of this feature-length movie (which was filmed two years later). The film runs an hour and forty minutes; the short film runs about 17 minutes. The reason I mention this is because the short film, in those 17 minutes, managed to properly express a lot of the brilliant points that Ellis (the director and writer) tried to keep relevant throughout the nearly two hour film, and ended up slightly repeating.

I'm not saying that the lengthy film is bad, but I am saying that parts have a tendency to drag on. The whole thing lacks a consistency, that if it were cleaned up just a little more, would have made this movie absolutely brilliant. Instead, these inconsistencies end up contrasting each other. The story is told mostly through voice over narration and that's where the first of the inconsistencies lie. At times they are clever and profound, saying a lot about art and sexuality... And at other times the voiceover nearly just repeats a previous voice over. Some shots will be incredibly well framed, well lit, and sometimes even symbolic... and sometimes they'll be incredibly boring and uninspired. Sometimes the acting and chemistry amongst the characters are honest, heart-warming, and subtle... and at times the characters act like they're a part of a cartoon. Nudity is a prevalent feature of this film and is used to convey a lot of the themes regarding beauty, art, and sexuality... yet at times it is completely tasteless and unnecessary

These inconsistencies really bring the film down for me because it diminishes how seriously the overall film can be taken. How can a film that (at times) beautifully explores the artistic influence of nudity on the protagonist be taken seriously when later, a stripper gets naked (and becomes the focus of the film for a few minutes) for no other reason than to just strip. There isn't even a voiceover during that scene to justify it in some way. If I were to recommend this film in any form, it would be in its short-film version. This is a shame because the feature film uses a lot of really interesting film techniques that really impressed me (a note: when I wasn't bored or annoyed).

The score (which can be found in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YkkPNUwafY) was consistently tasteful, though. A lot of the subtleties that made the film great owed itself to a blend of beautiful cinematography and the score that accompanied it. 

I'm too early in this "review-film-thing" to give it a rating (though I hope to in the future), but I do strongly recommend the short film 
(which can be found here: http://www.dailymotion.com
/video/xp4ea_cashback_shortfilms). If you enjoy the voiceover, or some of the themes, then check out the full movie (which is on Netflix instant streaming). The inconsistencies are notable but forgivable overall. As I've said, the film does include some really well done scenes.


And that's my review! Hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to writing more. I have my own movie list, but if there's any movie you'd like me to watch or review, let me know. Hopefully, I'll get better at this with time (and maybe even look closer at the films in a theory/thematic kind of way. Who knows?). Wish me luck!