Cashback (2006)

Cashback (2006) is a British comedy about an art student suffering from insomnia after a painful breakup. To handle his condition, he imagines he can pause time for everyone around him. What happens next, did he find his true love is the story. The film available on Kanopy gets a Raw rating.

Director Sean Ellis narrative style was different and engaging, but the screenplay was weak in most places. Sean Biggerstaff has done nicely the role of the young protagonist Ben Willis, so as Emilia Fox as Ben’s love interest Sharon. Jared Harris (who came in Mad Men and Apple TV+ Foundation), the ex-husband of Emilia Fox has a guest role as an art studio director. Most of the other characters were predictable and uninteresting.

There are a few dialogues that caught my attention: “(For those working in the night shifts) The clock is your enemy, the more you look at it, the slower it goes” and “With the time frozen, I can move around freely, unnoticed (by anyone)“. The supermarket’s manager Alan Jenkins delivers motivating speeches which were powerful and could wake up the dead, well played by Stuart Goodwin.

When travelling abroad, I like to visit and roam inside supermarkets, a good part of Cashback has been shot inside one and that may be a reason I liked the film. I was reminded of In the Aisles (2018), 10 Items or Less (2006) which also featured supermarkets.