Director:
Sean Ellis
Starring:
Sean Biggerstaff ………. Ben Willis
Emilia Fox ………. Sharon Pintey
Shaun Evans ………. Sean Higgins
Michelle Ryan ………. Suzy
Stuart Goodwin ………. Jenkins
Michael Dixon ………. Barry Brickman
Michael Lambourne ………. Matt Stephens
Marc Pickering ………. Brian
Nick Hancock ………. Rory
The Movie
It’s a hard feat to turn a short film into a full-length feature film. Especially when the short film was nominated for an Academy Award and was the big-screen debut for the director. How do you a turn a critically acclaimed short film into a longer movie without there appearing to be too much “filler”? To answer that question ask first-time English director, Sean Ellis, with his short film turned feature film, Cashback.
Cashback stars Sean Biggerstaff as Ben. He goes to art school, but when the movie starts when see him having a dramatic fight with his girlfriend, Suzy (Michelle Ryan). They are in the process of breaking up. Soon afterwards, Ben develops insomnia. To cure that, he decides to work the nighttime shift at the local supermarket. Here he meets an array of interesting and goofy characters: the karate champion Brian (Marc Pickering), pranksters Jenkins and Barry (Stuart Goodwin and Michael Dixon), the sleazy but amiable boss man, and the sweet check-out girl, Sharon (Emilia Fox). As an artist, he ponders about everything. During his first year in art school, he was taught to appreciate the fundamentals of still life. To pass the time away, he somehow develops the ability to freeze time and given the chance to observe the beauty around him.
Usually when the plot of a film requires the viewers to believe in the unbelievable, it’s a hard sell. It has to be done correctly or risk not being taken seriously at all. Despite the fact that it is hard to believe that someone can freeze time, it doesn’t really matter. This “ability” works in the overall scheme of things. Who is not say that Ben only manages to “freeze” time inside of his head by using his imagination. He is an artist after all and people complaining about Ben actually having the ability to freeze time literally, don’t get the point of this movie at all.
The acting in this movie is good, especially when you consider that the entire cast is basically unknown to American audiences. The lead star, Sean Biggerstaff, can be seen in a few of the Harry Potter movies, but that’s the biggest “name” in this movie. Overall everyone is solid, which only helps this movie more.
There really doesn’t seem to be a lot of “filler” in this expanded feature film. This film is infamous for some of its nudity scenes, but once again the nudity fits in with the story of the movie. It might have been possible to cut those scenes down, but they are perfectible acceptable as they are and certainly shouldn’t be the focal point of the movie.
There are some slow parts in the movie, so it is not nearly as smooth of a transition from short film to feature film as it could have been. But for the most part, Sean Ellis was able to expand a short film into a feature film without too many problems. The running theme of the movie is finding beauty from the things around you, and it is only right that the cinematography of this film is equally as beautiful. While it is not flawless, it is a perfectly acceptable film that will surprise most people who view it.
The Video:
The video is given in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen color, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. The video is pretty good and comparable to other new release DVDs. Nothing too special, but it’s good enough for this movie.
The Audio:
The audio included is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English and Spanish as well. No problems real problems here either. The music and dialogue come out loud and clear.
The Extras:
“Making of Cashback” Featurette
The basic “behind-the-scenes” featurette for this movie. It’s the only featurette that provides information on the movie, so it’s the place to go if you want to learn more about making this movie, etc. Decent enough.
Original Cashback Short Film
This is the 20 minute short film that was nominated for an Academy Award. It’s good that they added this as an “extra” so that you can compare it to the finished feature film.
I recommend renting this film for everyone. There are A LOT worse films out there that you can rent and about 80% of the people who watch this film will like it enough to possibly buy it.
