Cashback

Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(July 2007)

Director: Sean Ellis
Starring: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans, Stuart Goodwin, Michelle Ryan
Studio: Left Turn Films, Bausager/Ellis Productions; distributed by Magnolia Pictures

In-a-nutshell:
Written, produced and directed by Sean Ellis, Cashback opens with a slow-motion breakdown of a breakup replete with an operatic aria overture. Poetic and judicious, the film's light and music convey the weight of Ben Willis's adolescent world, and bathes the audience in a symphonic glow akin to the opening scenes of Raging Bull. 

Ellis's world is a welcome wake-up call. Having collected the distinctive characters worthy of any comedy, teaming them with the poetic musings murmured by a sleepless painter and lensed with sensitivity by Angus Hudson, Ellis segues from quirky fart jokes to somber reflections of college-age relationships, girlfriends bested and the awaiting labyrinth of lust, loss, lies and love.

The shooting style is simple and fresh in this San Sebastian International Film Festival's C.I.C.A.E. Award winner. It lulls the watcher into a world bathed in the artist's self-doubt, which itself becomes the stimulus for a life lived awake - a state of insomnia so compulsive as to lead Willis to undertake the nightshift at the local supermarket. Willis's time-killing and mind-numbing job is punctuated by his ability to pause the clock to train his eye on the night-world's wanderers, to study the newfound objects of his artistic attention and, in the case of fellow-worker Sharon, to explore the effects of his affection.

While some frank nudity may take some viewers' eyes off the screen, the magical world webbed by this British filmmaker maintains an allure worthy of attention. Any holes in the plot are plugged by the poetic language (except for a near Ferris Bueller quote in the final moments) and more than mildly entertaining actors who supply a litany of laughs alongside the clever camerawork that includes the original short film shot two years prior. Ellis won Best Narrative Short at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival for the short that led to this feature and was subsequently nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action. Ellis is already in post on another script-to-screen effort slated for release in 2008, starring Lena Headey (300). I'll be eager to see whether the 37-year-old newcomer can continue to craft the intimate, interesting illusions he created in Cashback.

Following its successful run at festivals that include Toronto, San Sebastian and Rome, Cashback will make its theatrical run in a release by Magnolia Pictures beginning July 20.

Top image: Writer/Director Sean Ellis -Cashback- copyright, Magnolia Pictures