Cashback (2004)

This short film is a product of England. It focuses on the late night shift employees in a supermarket and how they kill the time they are exchanging for a paycheck. This setup works very well to a point. Halfway through Cashback, the story is thrust out of its initial comedy vein and onto a more “artistic” path that is hit or miss with audiences.

The first half of the film is witty and amusing. Ben, a London art student, narrates us through a cast of colorful characters and the various ways that they kill eight hours a night while virtually no one is in the store. We have the slimy shift manager who is constantly trying to impress the cute checkout cashier. The checkout cashier plays a game of avoiding looking at the clock for as long as her mind will let her. The immature stock boys find ways to goof off and destroy things in the back of the store.

All of these characters have their charms and the narration is snappy and clever. Halfway through the film though, we discover how Ben bides his time. At this point, the amusement dies down and you will either enjoy the rest of the short or you won’t. Ben likes to pretend that he can stop time. At first, this is very interesting because everyone in the store freezes in place. Some of their positions are awkward and amusing. Others are simply very normal. Ben the art student likes to look at people, women specifically. While pretending that he can stop time, he likes to imagine the attractive women in the store in various stages of being dressed. Some women are nude already, while Ben assists others in undressing further to his likeness.

Ben states that he has been intrigued by the nude female form since he was a young boy, possibly indicating why he became an art student. He claims to be observing and appreciating the female form and uses these mental images to create sketches for his art. Some viewers will be able to pass off Ben’s actions as perfectly acceptable as it pertains to art. Others will view Ben as a fetishist and will take issue with his passion for mentally undressing women. I find myself caught somewhere in the middle. I find it hard to excuse his creepy behavior in the name of art. I respect art, despite not having a great knowledge of it, but there is a line that has to be drawn somewhere between curious artist and pervert. Ben is flirting dangerously with that line.

The resolution to Cashback is unsatisfying because the pace and tone of the film changes so drastically in the middle. If you found the switch to Ben’s preferred time-killing technique jarring and uncomfortable, it will be difficult to snap out of that mindset when everything is wrapped up at the end. Some of Ben’s dialogue does become selfishly indulgent and almost self-righteous as he explains away his mental misadventures. The clever writing and camera trickery makes up for much of the potential perceived negatives but they can only do so much.

RATING: 3 out of 5