Directed by Sean Ellis
The medium of film was invented for people like director Sean Ellis, who utilises it to play with time, space, sound and images, as well as nudity and nonsense. Ellis also draws on personal experience to create the main character in his adventurous first feature film, Ben (Sean Biggerstaff). Both Sean and Ben credit an encounter with a Swedish au pair at a young age for their early appreciation of the female form.
In this surreal black comedy, art student Ben develops insomnia after breaking up with his girlfriend and gets a job at an all-night supermarket. Each person on the nightshift has developed a way of overcoming the boredom and Ben fantasises about freezing time, so he can disrobe female customers and sketch them. Ben supplies a lightly philosophical narrative to the night shift as he passes the time and manages to develop a romance with introspective checkout girl Sharon (Emilia Fox) who avoids looking at any clocks between dusk and dawn.
Ellis has fun slowing the world down, speeding it up and putting it on pause. Based on his award-winning short film, this playfully erotic feature is certainly a wish fulfillment fantasy for Ellis. He celebrates the beautiful and the banal and observes that what we spend our lives looking for is often right in front of us. With Cashback before your eyes, you will likely find what you are looking for – a film that is enjoyable in more ways than one.
