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I think this filmmaker has a future.
Cashback aspires to be equal parts Volkswagen ad and Nicholson Baker's The Fermata, yet compares unfavorably to both.
Cashback is light, smart, and enjoyable, and it makes me eager to see what Ellis has planned for his next outing.
Imagine Kevin Smith with a background in poetry and painting instead of comic books and bestiality jokes, and you'll have an idea of what to expect from an exciting new filmmaker named Sean Ellis, whose terrific debut is called Cashback.
It's no small trick to blend fantasy, slapstick and genuine emotion, but [director] Ellis pulls it off with whimsy to spare.
Beware films with protagonists depicted as vastly more sensitive than their fellow characters. The result may be a crock like Cashback.
A little too mopey and sexist for its own good. But the cast is engaging enough to keep us interested
A good writer starts with characters and plot and allows the themes to come naturally from the story. Sean Ellis' script for Cashback is all theme, and it's not that interesting a one to begin with.
The first thing one will probably respond to, after the brief rampant nudity, is the exquisite cinematography by Angus Hudson.
Considering the entire uneventful and unpleasant proceedings, 'cash back' may have been the worst highly suggestive choice of title possible for the audience to contemplate.
Ellis seems to believe that artists have an enlightened sense of beauty and greater access to it than common folk. And he may be right: He's clearly mastered the skill of convincing art-school chicks to take their clothes off.
The film lags badly in the middle; the flashbacks to Ben's childhood aren't especially interesting and the lengthy soccer sequence is sheer dead weight.
As observers we can project our own fantasies onto Ben's, and [director] Ellis enhances this dreamy effect with low-budget ingenuity, like cleverly executing location changes in the same unbroken shot.
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