Cashback by Sean Ellis
This film posts the simple question: what would you do to mentally get through an eight hour shift of mindless work? There are the obvious answers of playing goofball tricks, refusing to look at a clock, and filling your mind with pointless thoughts, but rarely do you ever think of the possibility of stopping time in your mind. Generally the idea of slowing down time does not make you think of time going by quickly.
This film plays beautifully with the concept of time. There are scenes that are filmed quickly, paired with fast upbeat music and there are some scenes that are filmed slowly. This is the first film in which I have truly been drawn to the music and the music has given so much more to the film. Ellis’s experimentation with camera angles and speeds makes for a very intriguing film. There was distinct humor, some jokes more sarcastically blunt, others more crude and slapstick, but the most impressive quality of this film was Ellis’s ability to combine humor with a deep, thought provoking idea of stopping time to see what truly is beautiful. The idea that even those babbling idiots and bored Sharon are practicing their form of art highlights the idea that everything and anything is art. Deep down, you are your own inspired artist. Everywhere you go, even the local supermarket, are canvases ridden with artistic beauty and inspiration.
I also want to note how connected I felt to the characters in this short. At first, Ben Willis seems like a dull, perverted young man, working to make his money to get by. But then we see deeper into his thought process, and i begin to feel connected to him once you see his disgruntled nature after the boss pat’s his female coworker on the bottom. He didn’t want to treat women like animals, he saw so much more in them. The screen flash to the deer, which I adored, showed the gentile, majestic, beautiful, kind qualities he saw in women. The nudity and portrayal of women in this short could be considered grotesque and uncalled for, but it gives us so much insight into Ben’s mind. It attempts to show us how this is not of sexual nature, he truly finds these bodies to be beautiful and so informative of the women themselves. We even spot his gentile nature when he pulls down the woman’s blouse in the end. He would never mean to offend them by showing great interest in their forms, but they would never assume the best of his intentions.
We all have a firm dislike for the tool-bag boss. Deep down in our hearts, those goofy perverse idiots make us smile. Sharon’s attempt to not look at the clock is a reaction similar to ours and her sweet personality make us adore her more.
I finished the short with a smile on my face, but also a lot of thoughts running through my mind. I believe this shows a great deal of success on behalf of the director and writers.
All in all, I LOVED this short.
