Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3770 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-09-01
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A slight but likable British comedy-fantasy with a touch of naughtiness, Cashback is an expanded version of director Sean Ellis' Oscar-nominated short film of the same name about a bored supermarket clerk who discovers that he has the ability to stop time. Sean Biggerstaff (from the Harry Potter franchise) is Ben, a lovelorn young man whose chronic insomnia (due to a bad breakup) forces him to bury himself in pointless and repetitive work at a local grocery store. Once there, boredom causes him to believe that he can stop time, and he enjoys long and languid fantasies about undressing and sketching the female shoppers. But reality intrudes in the form of recollections of his troubled past, as well as the lovely presence of fellow clerk Sharon (Emilia Fox), who offers the promise of love in the real world. A gentle and artfully directed independent film, Cashback doesn't run very deep in terms of emotion, but the special effects are clever, the cast quirky and amusing, and its premise is an appealing mix of softcore reverie and boyish longing. --Paul Gaita

Synopsis
After a horrible breakup that causes a severe bout of insomnia, a young man named Ben (Sean Biggerstaff, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) takes a job working the night shift at a supermarket. Between the mind-numbing work and his lack of sleep, Ben is close to losing his mind. But one look at his co-worker Sharon (Emilia Fox, The Pianist) quickly sparks his imagination, and pulls him into a more appealing world of workplace fantasy, where he has the ability to stop time.

Customer Reviews

A very original, witty, interesting film
I really enjoyed this film. It did remind me of Clerks vaguely. But I thought overall that it was a witty, thoughtful, original and interesting story.

It is really hard to talk about this film and recommend it to people when you describe the main character can freeze time and when he does this he undressed and then draws the female customers of his supermarket, plus gets revenge on his night manager. But despite this dodgy sounding idea it works, and is hugely enjoyable. Check out the great Cashback film website too.

Watch and enjoy

Honestly, I rented it for the wrong reasons...
If I'm to be honest, I actually rented Cashback because I saw some nudity on the cover, and thought I'd get a bit of titillation out of it.

But instead what I got was a beautiful film that literally made me weep because of how lovely the storyline and composition of the actual film was. I didn't get what I wanted, but got a lot more than I had hoped. Something that reminded me of how much beauty there is in this world, and how easy it is to let it all slip by unnoticed.

Don't get it for titillation...you'll be disappointed...but if you want something uplifting and beautiful, watch it!

Above average British film
Cashback initially looks like a carbon copy of Saul Metzstein's 2001 film 'Late Night Shopping', ie supermarket nightshift workers and how acute tedium can be recreational and deadly. But it gets its surprise on with gusto. It takes the theme of chump change job working boredom to a place that Fight Club touches on, except that rather than multiple personalities being formed, reality itself is divided between real time and stopped time.

I'm kinda surprised Saino's let the filmmakers use not just one of their shops for the film, but their brand name too, mentioned more than once in dialogue and seen on worker induction literature in the interview scene. Although having seen a television documentary about Saino's when (then) chief executive Dino Adriano had to do a nightshift at one of the shops (grim: staff weren't allowed to talk to each other), this is probably quite good product placement, in terms of it being a 'fun' place to work.

All in all - a good film and commendable in that it's by a writer-director and doesn't fall into the usual debut writer-director trap of self indulgence (Squid & The Whale, 16 Years of Alcohol etc etc).

And respect to Emilia Fox and Sean Biggerstaff for what they did on this film - cos no matter how much directional pyrotechnics a film has, it's only as good as its actors.