Cashback
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Movie Reviews of Cashback
Movie Review: Meditation on beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most remarkable films I've seen in quite some time. In fact, it has lurched into the pantheon of my all-time favorite movies! It is a somewhat odd mixture of diverse ingredients, with elements of Office Space - Special Edition with Flair (Widescreen Edition) and High Fidelity and even some allusions to Gladiator (Widescreen Edition) thrown in just for fun. On top of that, much of it makes you feel like you're in the Twilight Zone, yet there's some downright slap-stick comedy that is stirred in for one amazing concoction of a story!
The DVD details the life of an artist (Sean Biggerstaff) who is having an awful time getting over his ex-girlfriend who just dumped him. He's having such a rough time, in fact, that he can't sleep. I mean, literally - he has the worst case of insomnia the world has ever seen. Finally, he gets a job working 3rd shift at a supermarket, just for something to do.
While there he meets up with a very pretty cashier (Emilia Fox) and some just plain crazy co-workers. He looks at even something as banal as working in a grocery store as being an "artistic" (if not metaphysical?) experience, and finds himself gravitating towards the lovely blonde cashier.
At the base, what this movie seems to be "all about" to me is a sort of meditation on feminine beauty, and the way that (straight) men perceive that beauty. Yes, this includes the female nude, but in an artistic way as opposed to being sleazy. The film is full of useful flashbacks that help us understand the evolution of an artist's perception of women. Many of these flashbacks,in fact, I could relate to in my own life.
Be warned that this is a very "different" sort of movie. Being an independent film, it goes well off of the beaten-track, and to me that's a good thing. While I'm sure there are plenty of people who will watch this and say "Boy, that was weird" I'm also confident that there are many who will say "Wow, I'd like to see more introspective flicks like that!" I belong to the latter group.
Movie Review: A great avante-garde romantic comedy-fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, I admit it ... just like many other people, it was the cover picture that caught my eye (as it was meant to). HOWEVER, it was the cogent and intelligent comments here (on Amazon) that succeeded in clueing me in to a sensitively written high-brow gem of a movie, which I promptly purchased, and just finished enjoying.
Yes, Ellis' movie has the obligatory dysfunctional 'characters', and sophomoric humor, required to keep what Shakespeare called his audience's "peanut gallery" contingent entertained ... thus freeing him to tell the deeper tale to the rest of the audience in peace.
In this instance, the story revolves around an intelligent, and very introspective, young art student who, shell-shocked from breaking up with his {superficially} beautiful girlfriend, goes through an emotional recovery phase (and a severe bout of profound insomnia) in which his understandings of "beauty" (both superficial and inner), and his perception time itself, shatter and rearrange themselves in surreal fashion into a new, deeper, and more mature awareness.
{By the way, the movie title is something of a double pun - the main character, as a result of his insomnia, uses his sleepless hours to work the graveyard shift at a local supermarket, theyeby getting 'cashback' on his surplus time (which seems to drag interminably) ... also, his new love interest, the cashier in same store, asks customers if they want 'cashback' on the card they use for their purchase.}
Anyway, it's a great avante garde movie. Ellis deftly uses the combination of feminine beauty, and surreal time perception, as a sort of visual zen-koan, in order to help the viewer better empathize with the main character's attempts to reassess both concepts with his artistic mental microscope (like a microbiologist trying to study what's ailing him). If you've ever been through a near death experience, a major accident, or a particularly deep & memorable emotional experience (good or bad), you'll have a leg up on grasping the slow-motion 'train wreck' altered-state-of-awareness effect (and it's aftermanth) that often accompanies such experiences, and how they often replay themselves over and over again in your mind ... sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes timeless.
It's well done, and very enjoyable. Stars: 4 1/2.
Movie Review: A lyrical reverie on the beauty and dichotomy of women
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a dream-like film about art, the beauty of the female form, of love lost, and love regained, of the dichotomy of women in men's lives.
This is the story of Ben, a shy, awkward art student who is obsessed with the beauty of women. His social skills are not matched by his artistry, however, as he struggles to connect with girls.
The film opens with a striking scene - a high speed shot, played back in slow motion and accompanied by the glorious singing of an opera soprano, magnifying the contortions in the face of Ben's girlfriend as she hurls obscenities and a coffee mug and then a lamp at him. The shot is repeated again near the end of the movie as another of Ben's girlfriends also shrieks at him in slow motion.
In between, Ben, having become an insomniac over his breakup with his girlfriend, discovers the power to stop time, a power which he uses to further explore his obsession with the female form. Here, the movie shows off lots of beautiful women in various states of undress.
And this is the true genius of this film, to show the dichotomy of women, that they can be so lovely to men when calm and naked, and also be so capable of turning into these raging demons from hell.
At the grocery store, Ben falls for a pretty cashier named Sharon and then almost loses her over a trivial incident.
The finale to the film is breathtaking in its beauty and artistry. Sharon reconnects with Ben at an art gallery. With a kiss he brings her into his stop-action world, and they walk into a suspended snowfall, hand in hand, pushing through the snowflakes hanging in mid-air, glittering like diamonds in the moonlight. Ben's voiceover at the end lingers in the soul...
...Once upon a time I wanted to know what love was. Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it...
(Note: The beautiful song at the end is an orchestral remix of "She" by Grand Avenue, a Dutch band. The orchestral remix by Guy Farley is better than the original, and is on the Cashback Soundtrack CD, currently available from Amazon's UK site, or through Google Shopping)
Movie Review: Wonderful, Original....Moments of Pure Genius !!
Summary: 5 Stars
I selected this movie for the photo on the DVD cover, having no great expectations, but after watching it and the short film from which it was derived, I am in complete awe of the originality, creativity, and cinematic genius of it creator, Shaun Ellis. It succeeds on all levels: masterful camera work, perfect casting, splendid dialog, characters with whom you can really connect, and a clever, original plot.
Most of us can personally relate to virtually every situation, emotion, and comment made by the lead character. Rarely does a movie so accurately portray so many almost inexplicable emotions such as longing, loneliness, and utter boredom.
The characters are stuck in the most boring possible workplace and each seek their own ways to preserve their sanity. One idiotic pair play childish pranks, while the female lead, beautifully played by Emilia Fox, covers her watch with tape and avoids looking at the clock at all costs....for as we all know, a watched clock moves even more slowly.
The male lead, played by Sean Biggerstaff, however, embraces the slowness of time's passage, and appears to be able to make time actually stand still. During these periods, when everyone else is frozen in place, he roams about undressing and drawing some of the store's more beautiful clientele. As other reviewers have noted, this could have descended into gross pornography, but, as a testiment to the great skill of the author and director, Ellis, it actually rises to the level of art.
The dual love story is also quite moving: the painful destruction of one relationship and the gradual development of a new one. At all times, both are absolutely plausible and emotionally tone perfect.
In conclusion, there is a much better reason to buy, rent, or borrow this DVD than its cover photo: the simple fact that I and many other reviewers have given it our highest recommendation. So many people just can't be wrong. Please trust us and view this splendid film at your earliest convenience. It is truly a small masterpiece that you will not soon forget.
Movie Review: " Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. "
Summary: 5 Stars
Honestly, when I see some of the tags and reviews on this movie, it amazes me that you even sat down to watch it, and the actuality that you cannot have grasped a single thing on the screen.
I mean let's get the cat out of the bag here-and-now and get to what really matters... this movie has NUDITY! If a couple shots of the female form is going to get your panties in a bunch then don't sit down to watch this film, please. Though cover art can be deceiving one should assume that the image of a possibly semi-naked girl might imply some nudity.
With that being said, 2006's Cashback is a story about newly single Ben Willis(Sean Biggerstaff, of Harry Potter fame) an art student who's break-up has given him an unshakable case of insomnia.
Ben realizes his inability to sleep might be fruitful if he gets a job, therefore he becomes employed at a local grocery store as a night janitor. With a crazy bunch of co-workers and his own special way of stopping time help to maintain any sense of his sanity against the long, tedious shifts and abrasive customers. Ben feels like he's barely getting by when he meets Sharon(Emilia Fox) a quiet checkout girl who works at the market, and who just might be the perfect distraction.
Cashback portrays an artists mind perfectly and beautifully as we examine Ben's ability to 'stop time' and admire every bit of beauty around him, even in the hell hole he seems to be stuck in he can find beauty.
"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."
It's not for everyone, but if you can open your eyes to the beauty that is Cashback, you will surely enjoy it.