‘The more I tried to sleep, the less tired I felt' - Cashback (2006)
June 30th 2008 22:47
Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) is obsessive about the break-up of his relationship to the point that he can no longer sleep. With horror he realises he has eight extra hours in the day and somehow he needs to fill them. When visiting his local Sainsbury’s supermarket late one night, he feels affiliated with the cashier. She has the same glazed eyes and listless movements as he possesses. He watches her emotionless fulfilling of her job, seemingly willing the time to pass as fast as possible, yet with a look that says, ‘what do I do after this?’
A sign on the wall tells him there are positions available. A comedic interview ensues with an overenthusiastic manager; Jenkins (Stuart Goodwin) who gleefully gives Ben an official welcome to the job.
The deal is defined: he gives them eight hours and they give him a pay check: Cashback.
His night-time career revolves around stocking shelves with a sorry collection of bored, slow-witted co-workers. Barry (Michael Dixon) and Matt (Michael Lambourne), spend their shifts diligently figuring out ways not to work, along with oddball Brian (Marc Pickering), who fancies himself a master of the martial arts. They warn him of their store motto: ‘the more you look at the clock, the slower the times goes.’
In between work, his hours are cluttered with images of his ex-girlfriend bouncing on lush-green moors, bright-red lipstick, and her hair falling around her alluring face with wordless romantic music. Unfortunately, these images do nothing to encourage empathy in the viewer; rather they are too cheesy for us to feel compassion.
Ben whiles away further hours by fantasying about the checkout girl, the quiet and serious Sharon — who is also the unwilling object of Jenkins' relentless, obnoxious attentions.
Ben is a stunted character who sees women as objects. His inertia is contagious, his inner thoughts, words and actions are bland. At times, it was hard to care what he did with his time. While the other supermarket characters Barry and Matt where at times annoying, it was a relief to have a more colourful feeling added to the story.
Writer-director Ellis allows us access to Ben’s thoughts by a non-disruptive voiceover. The story is told from a skewed perspective that allows for some time-bending strangeness as Ben grapples with the realities of life on far too little sleep. Ben discovers that he can freeze the image of women and then draw them, both in his mind and paper. As the film progresses, we can see this is Ben’s main way of coping with the hours of his life where he would rather not be awake.
While Ben’s freezing of time is an artistic and interesting concept, the numerous scenes of female nudity are photographed in a leering way which is at odds with what’s supposed to be a romantic comedy. The plot trajectory is utterly predictable. It seems the purpose of the scenes were for us to understand and perhaps empathise with Ben and his thoughts, but in fact they were quite creepy, too intimately voyeuristic.
Despite this, there are a few clever, sincerely beautiful, moments of visual poetry, but the overall results are uneven to say the least. What could have been an effective, quirky and artistic film thanks to the intriguing story and clever camera trickery does not gel cohesively. The realistic depiction of young empty adulthood is accurate. Unfortunately despite the tone being slightly comical yet nostalgic, the narration begins to feel slightly and self-indulgent, in a monotonous and unengaging way, ultimately ensuring viewer ennui.
However, the film is not completely dark, there are several amusing moments, including a feeble five-a-side match against a rival supermarket and a completely ludicrous party – held by the deeply annoying. While these characters may not be particularly likeable, they are vivid and engaging and provide a relief from Ben’s lethargy.
While the film’s premise is unique and appealing, unfortunately the film flags in the middle, creating some flat, dull moments. The flashbacks to Ben’s childhood do not add anything significant to the story and feel superfluous.
It is a pity that the director did not do something more creatively effective because even though Ben couldn’t fall sleep, I nearly did. Perhaps, it should have been left in its original nineteen-minutes long short film format.
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Comment by katyzzz
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Comment by Tracy
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Comment by Sara Dobson
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Comment by Tracy
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You're right, unfortunately, it was pretty flat overall. I thought the premise and some of the devices were clever, but it just became too mundane.
Thanks for popping in,
Tracy
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Comment by Tracy
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Tracy
Comment by Tracy
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It had potential to be a beautiful and appreciative dream-like yearning of female beauty, but it just tipped into being too voyeuristic and slightly irksome. Excellent premise though.
Thank-you for your compliment, glad you liked the review,
Tracy
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Very informative review, Trace!
Mich
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
It most definitely does have potential and I was glad I saw it.
I really like the ideas, especially the time freezing, but it did fall flat. I was also interested because insomnia is something I experience quite often. I don't think I'll take up any of his ideas, the supermarket job, the nudey images or general female obsessions.
Thanks for popping in as always, Mich!
Trace
Comment by Miswanderlust
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I had not even heard of this film. Very interesting premise I might put it in my Netflix queue to watch. I will keep my expectations low. You know us insomniacs do fantasize about how to fill our "extra" hours. Interesting post friend. Hope you are well.
Mis
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I'm having one of these nights at the moment. I won't fill my hours by working in a supermarket but I might as well do something with the extra time!
Thanks for popping in,
TRacy
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