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DVDfever.co.uk – Cashback DVD reviewDom Robinson reviews
Universal Pictures UK
- Cert:
- Cat.no: SBX450
- Running time: 98 minutes
- Year: 2006
- Pressing: 2008
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras:Making Of, Deleted Scenes, Trailer, Audio commentary
Director:
- Sean Ellis
(The Brøken, Cashback, Shorts: Cashback, Left Turn)
Producers:
- Sean Ellis and Lene Bausager
Screenplay:
- Sean Ellis
Music :
- Guy Farley
Cast :
- Ben Willis: Sean Biggerstaff
Sharon Pintey: Emilia Fox
Sean Higgins: Shaun Evans
Suzy: Michelle Ryan
Jenkins: Stuart Goodwin
Barry Brickman: Michael Dixon
Matt Stephens: Michael Lambourne
Brian ‘Kung-Fu’: Marc Pickering
Young Ben Willis: Frank Hesketh
Art Class Girl: Katie Ball
Woman with trolley: Lene Bausager
Swedish Student: Hayley Marie Coppin
Frozen Beautiful Girl: Irene Bagach
Frozen Girl in Sainsbury’s: Keeley Hazell
Nightclub Girl: Michelle Bentley
Young Sean: Gary Beeson
Young Natalie: Nelly Lyster-Smith
Adult Natalie: Janine May Tinsley
Tanya: Emilia Fenton
Rory Davies: Nick Hancock
Spread Eagle Stripper: Bianca Drakes
Cashback
begins with a spectacular scene as first year Uni student Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) breaks up with Suzy (Michelle Ryan)when she voiciferously dumps him with her slow-motion words masked by the strains of Bellini’s Casta Diva from the opera’Norma’, a wonderful piece that comes up again at other times during the film.
With only his friend Sean (Shaun Evans) to confide in, Ben finds he can’t sleep as a result and now lives a 24hrlifestyle, so ends up going to work at Sainsburys – trading his 8 hours awake overnight for 8 hours money, i.e. “cashback”.The popular supermarket is also where Sharon (Emilia Fox) works, a young girl who encapsulates his desires.
This film really looks at the minituae of life, especially in a way which, for Ben, is a bit on the pervy side but whichshows the way most blokes think, and it’s full of brilliant writing that wraps everything together neatly. Interestingly, too,although Ben feels he can pause time and examine every last detail of everything that goes on, in all situations, he can’t seemto do that when he came across a similar moment with Sharon…
He also over-analyses moments when growing up, including crushes on other girls in class at school – as well as the teachers,and there’s so many moments in the film which really speak to me, such as when he comes to look at the school at the weekendbecause it looks so different when it’s empty. Now, I haven’t done that exactly, but I’ve seen once-busy buildings now lookingquiet at non-work times and I can see where he’s coming from.
Cashback features brilliant use of slo-mo and ome fantastic set design, such as when Ben finishes an importantphone call and ends up back in bed in his dorm, to give one example. I also love the text on the quality control advice labelon a blurry photo, too (you’ll need to pause the film to see this), as well as the fact that an invitation has the date of”31st November” on it. Might sound like nothing, but it’s just a nice touch in showing attention to the finer details of thefilm.
Almost finally, at first I thought, according to the packshot on Amazon, I don’t know why this was an 18, as a 15 wouldseem more appropriate. Then I checked the BBFC website and… it is a 15-cert.
Overall, Casbnack is such a great film that’s well worth checking out and I’m also looking forward to the director’slatest movie, The Brøken.
The anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen print is crisp and clear and well-lit throughout, particular in the supermarket scenes where it looksoverly bright on purpose due to the garish flourescent lights they always have. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack comes intolife for the scenes with music as well as for subtle use of atmospherics in the store, so there are no complaints here.
Extras-wise, first up is a Making Of (19:01), which starts off showing how it won the Best Narrative Short Film atthe Tribeca Film Festival in 2004, prior to making it into a feature-length movie, and also features interview snippets withall the key cast and crew as well as on-set footage. Then comes three Deleted Scenes (6:00), all in letterbox 2.35:1and they’re more like alternate scenes or extended versions of what we’ve already seen.
There’s also a Trailer (2:07) in anamorphic 2.35:1, which is best seen once you’ve watched the film so you don’t getany spoilers, and finally an Audio Commentary with director Sean Ellis and lead actor Sean Biggerstaff. I listened to afew minutes of this and the film dialogue often sits at normal volume, thus drowning out the commentary.
The film is poorly-chaptered with just 12 of them (I always work on a rule of thumb of one per five minutes), the main menufeatures clips of the movie and a small piece of the final track, She by Grand Avenue, and there are subtitles in English.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.