Movie Review: Cashback

Movie Review: Cashback (2006)
Director: Sean Ellis
Cast: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox
Plot: After a painful breakup, art student Ben Willis (Biggerstaff) starts having insomnia. To help pass the time, he gets an overnight job at a supermarket where his artistic imagination runs wild. He believes that he has the ability to stop time. As his sleeplessness grows, Ben begins to fall for one of the checkout girls. Can he overcome the trauma from his previous relationship and move on, or will he be cursed to continue not sleeping and freezing time?

Cashback is one of those rare movies that is very interesting and well written, yet also has some fantastic performances and deals with social issues that everyone has to face. At the time that I watched it, I had undergone a pretty serious breakup my own self, and even though I had started dating again, really hadn’t started feeling like myself yet. This movie captures that feeling perfectly. The numbness and loneliness of romantic loss are felt throughout. The scenes of freezing time are almost artistic visual poetry.

Without trying to give anything away, there’s a scene where Ben freezes time for two days trying to figure out how to undo what had already been done, and he knows there’s nothing he can do to change it. It’s a fantastic scene that really makes the movie stand out.

If you enjoy teen movies with themes of romance and love, be sure to check this movie.