Cashback

How many can stare at some spilled peas on the floor and find beauty. With this film, you may never look at still life the same again.

How do you fill the time that is flying by. We may not have the ability to freeze it and just enjoy the beauty of nature, but maybe we can spend some more of it appreciating life's beauty.

The cinematography and music really captivated me and set the mood long before the ingenious freezing sequence. It made the nudity something to be appreciated and enjoyed, not some cheesy titillation.

Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) is creating this world after breaking up with his girl (Michelle Ryan). There are a lot of laughs in the film with other supermarket employees, who are really interesting characters. There are flashbacks to Ben's childhood that provide other very interesting moments. Hayley-Marie Coppin, for one. But, it is not until Ben and Sharon (Emilia Fox) start seeing each other that his life starts to get back to normal.

Everything is not all smooth from then on out, and we get to see the same scene with Sharon that we saw with Suzy in the beginning. It was very original. It is what happens in life when we see one second of a two-second story.

But, the moment when Sharon walks into the Proud Gallery was just precious, and you knew things would work out.

A magical ending to a great film by Sean Ellis leaves us wanting MORE!

A guy and his girl break up. Painfully. As a result of this the guy becomes an insomniac and suddenly finds himself with 8 more hours in the day. 8 more hours in which he feels the pain of love gone sour. 8 more hours to be bored and restless. He decides to make the best of it and starts working the night shift in a supermarket where he is met with a new kind of boredom and several people that deal with that boredom in different ways. Himself adding yet another way of dealing with that boredom. He imagines he can stop time. What follows is best seen instead of read about.

This film is filled to the rim with the most beautiful stills, completed with several speeds of motion and feels right. Right in an artistically way. It is like watching a painting being painted,, like watching a poem being written, like listening to a song being composed. And at the end it all adds up and the completed picture is seen in all its beauty. All in all a really nicely designed film that belongs in the small theaters and in the art-houses.

Next to that it is fun to watch. The adventures of the guy are interesting to follow, even though they aren't all that different from what most people go through at one or other stage of life. Music choice was very fitting and acting was good enough not to be falling out of place with the rest. So, all in all, a very pleasurable watch and something I can recommend to anyone.

9 out of 10 sketches sketched

There are few films that truly cause the minds of its viewers to wander and transcend from one thought to another. This film inspired me to take a second to think about what a second really is and to cherish moments for what they are. Its a breath of fresh air just waiting to be taken in and surely those with intellect just waiting to be toyed with will surely agree. Being a citizen of the United States, I am rarely exposed to films that contain intelligent dialogue and inspiring acting. Unfortunately my country is filled with bumbling fools who appreciate things exploding and pointless violence more than a beautiful story. Alas, films such as this one remind me that there is still hope in this dreary world and for that i am grateful.

This is a small and simple film that has nothing simple and therefore results in nothing small. In fact, films like these show how some supposed delicacies produced by big studios can be put to shame by simple dishes by lesser-known authors who present us with delicious proposals made only with fine quality ingredients.

Everything in this movie results in. A script that is developed from a banal starting point, but which is treated in an original and emotionally elaborate way; an impeccable performance by the entire cast, which builds a gallery of characters that both provoke the most spontaneous laughter and moments of the deepest honest reflection; a cinematography sometimes just elegant, sometimes totally breathtaking; an extremely versatile and relevant soundtrack.

This is a film that comes out of a minor league, but that will not be considered as beeing at that level by anyone watches it.

What an intense and creative film this is and what a treat it was to have the charming Sean Biggerstaff present it at the Stockholm International Film Festival. He is proud of 'Cashback', and rightly so – for you will be pressed to find a prettier fantasy or funnier characters in a film this year.

'Cashback' is director Sean Ellis' debut feature and he recreates the atmosphere of his same-titled short film with deft strokes, breathing life into a fantasy movie masking as a romantic comedy. Do not write it off on the basis of this negatively-connoted label, rather see it as a creative drama that delivers comedy by the bucketload. The fact is that 'Cashback' delves deep into the emotions of its protagonist Ben Willis (Sean Biggerstaff) much like a drama. It opens with his girlfriend dumping him, screaming and throwing things. In the following weeks, Ben suffers from insomnia and thus finds that he has eight extra hours at his disposal. To pass the time, he works the dreary nightshift at Sainsbury's.

The supermarket job is mundane at first but soon offers an outlet for Ben's creative side. As an art student, he learns to find the beauty in still images every second of the day. This includes the unspeakable beauty in a spilled bag of green peas on aisle four. It also includes freezing time and undressing women (Ben finds great source of interest in the female form), arguably the film's most intense sequences. Here there is a kind of seamless intercutting of scenes, scenery, flashbacks, reality and fantasy that all melt together fluently as the director navigates through Ben's life and thoughts. The latter soothingly narrates the course of events, which cements his likability as a central character.

The unspeakable beauty in the dreamy cinematography is rivalled only by the other side of the tapestry – the comedy. I was rather unprepared for this diversion into hilarity, and expected Cashback to be a drama. Naturally, the amount of well-placed comedy floored my low expectations. In the front row for hilarity sits Ben's two colleagues at Sainsbury's, whom he introduces in brilliant ways. These are two dumb and goofy guys in their late teens who pass their time doing pranks and acting like idiots, such as smuggling sex toys in women's shopping bags at Sainsbury's and guffawing at the effect when she sees it and picks it up. The passing of time indeed proves a central theme in 'Cashback'.

But there is a wide array of noteworthy performances from the supporting cast, not just in Barry and Matt. Ben's boss also proves a massive crowd-pleaser and the level of seriousness which he applies to situations (such as the mighty football tournaments between supermarkets) is a goldmine for comedy. As ever, there is a romantic interest (Emilia Fox) – a girl who works at the same supermarket during the same shifts – who is the film's most likable and interesting character, bar none. My theatre audience also demanded Sean Biggerstaff on some info on this lovely actress.

It needs to be said that 'Cashback' is a sexually aggressive film with plenty of nudity and stories of sexual awakening. All women are also suspiciously attractive (it has often been brought up, beamed Biggerstaff in the Q&A session). It's funny, it's sexy and it's sweet – puffed full of insights in Ben's narration. Better yet, it is a surprisingly ambitious film that strikes me more as a mainstream feature than quirky indie fare (if it wasn't for the nudity). For instance, the classical score is so epic and well-fitted that it sounds like it belongs in 'Gladiator' or any other high-profile sweeping epic. For that matter, Sean Ellis has worked in a homage to the latter at one point when the boss gives a rallying speech during the football tournament, telling his employers to think of him 'as Russell Crowe'.

The film has only two faults as far as I can see it: its wildly unfocused story and its slightly cheesy ending. The former did not prove a problem or a distraction, but rather made it feel like 'Cashback' attempted a lot of different story lines and detours and diversions. That said, I can see how it could be considered a problem. The ending discards some of the unpredictable magic by tipping into saccharine but it is nothing fatal. The fact is that Cashback is a remarkable film in both comedy and drama aspects and I urge you to watch it if you are even a slight fan of Biggerstaff.

9 out of 10