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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 39 reviews)
Sales Rank: 125
Category: Movie
Actors: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans, Michelle Ryan, Stuart Goodwin
Director: Sean Ellis
Studio: Magnolia
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 103 minutes
ASIN: B001B5AY0O
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 "Clerks" meets "American Beauty." November 26, 2008
I've often said that American Beauty is the first foreign film to be made in the US, but now I digress...
Cashback is a pleasant little movie that starts sad and slow. It gets interesting when the main character takes a night shift job in a grocery store to cure his insomnia brought on by a break-up. It is in the store that we are served some random comedy, introspection and some interesting nudity.
Visually there's much to enjoy, and in spite of several directorial faux pas' it really does work.
 Slow and Boring November 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tiny bits of humor, unbelievably boring. The star of the show rambles on and on. The funniest scene is in the first two minutes when his ex rips into him. There are a few bits of immature humor but it just dragged on. Did I say it dragged on and on?
 A great avante-garde romantic comedy-fantasy October 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ok, I admit it ... just like many other people, it was the cover picture that caught my eye (as it was meant to). HOWEVER, it was the cogent and intelligent comments here (on Amazon) that succeeded in clueing me in to a sensitively written high-brow gem of a movie, which I promptly purchased, and just finished enjoying.
Yes, Ellis' movie has the obligatory dysfunctional 'characters', and sophomoric humor, required to keep what Shakespeare called his audience's "peanut gallery" contingent entertained ... thus freeing him to tell the deeper tale to the rest of the audience in peace.
In this instance, the story revolves around an intelligent, and very introspective, young art student who, shell-shocked from breaking up with his {superficially} beautiful girlfriend, goes through an emotional recovery phase (and a severe bout of profound insomnia) in which his understandings of "beauty" (both superficial and inner), and his perception time itself, shatter and rearrange themselves in surreal fashion into a new, deeper, and more mature awareness.
{By the way, the movie title is something of a double pun - the main character, as a result of his insomnia, uses his sleepless hours to work the graveyard shift at a local supermarket, theyeby getting 'cashback' on his surplus time (which seems to drag interminably) ... also, his new love interest, the cashier in same store, asks customers if they want 'cashback' on the card they use for their purchase.}
Anyway, it's a great avante garde movie. Ellis deftly uses the combination of feminine beauty, and surreal time perception, as a sort of visual zen-koan, in order to help the viewer better empathize with the main character's attempts to reassess both concepts with his artistic mental microscope (like a microbiologist trying to study what's ailing him). If you've ever been through a near death experience, a major accident, or a particularly deep & memorable emotional experience (good or bad), you'll have a leg up on grasping the slow-motion 'train wreck' altered-state-of-awareness effect (and it's aftermanth) that often accompanies such experiences, and how they often replay themselves over and over again in your mind ... sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes timeless.
It's well done, and very enjoyable. Stars: 4 1/2.
 Worth every penny October 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Very good movie, very surreal. It is different kind of movie which is why I loved it. This is a movie you curl up with your partner and watch late at night, not a family movie.
Wonderful, Original....Moments of Pure Genius !! September 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I selected this movie for the photo on the DVD cover, having no great expectations, but after watching it and the short film from which it was derived, I am in complete awe of the originality, creativity, and cinematic genius of it creator, Shaun Ellis. It succeeds on all levels: masterful camera work, perfect casting, splendid dialog, characters with whom you can really connect, and a clever, original plot.
Most of us can personally relate to virtually every situation, emotion, and comment made by the lead character. Rarely does a movie so accurately portray so many almost inexplicable emotions such as longing, loneliness, and utter boredom.
The characters are stuck in the most boring possible workplace and each seek their own ways to preserve their sanity. One idiotic pair play childish pranks, while the female lead, beautifully played by Emilia Fox, covers her watch with tape and avoids looking at the clock at all costs....for as we all know, a watched clock moves even more slowly.
The male lead, played by Sean Biggerstaff, however, embraces the slowness of time's passage, and appears to be able to make time actually stand still. During these periods, when everyone else is frozen in place, he roams about undressing and drawing some of the store's more beautiful clientele. As other reviewers have noted, this could have descended into gross pornography, but, as a testiment to the great skill of the author and director, Ellis, it actually rises to the level of art.
The dual love story is also quite moving: the painful destruction of one relationship and the gradual development of a new one. At all times, both are absolutely plausible and emotionally tone perfect.
In conclusion, there is a much better reason to buy, rent, or borrow this DVD than its cover photo: the simple fact that I and many other reviewers have given it our highest recommendation. So many people just can't be wrong. Please trust us and view this splendid film at your earliest convenience. It is truly a small masterpiece that you will not soon forget.
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