Despite never working in an office, every time I watch Mike Judge's Office Space, I get a rebellious, uprising feeling against whatever menial workplace I am currently working at throughout my all too long college career. I think the reason of this, is that every job is similar in regard to ridiculous bosses, repetitive work, and failure to ever reach the expectations of the employee. Still, after spending most of my time as a stockperson at a grocery store staring off into space, hoping to awaken at the hour of departure back into freedom, I can relate to this artsy Sean Ellis short Cashback. The short film itself is about an art student (as portrayed by Sean Biggerstaff), whom is trying to combat time while on the clock. Each character in the story combats time in different manners, most of which I'm sure any of us can relate. Somewhere near the middle, the story turns slightly away from comedy and ventures into a piece about the beauty of the naked female form. For this, the short is sometimes difficult to find online, and also gave birth to a rather raunchy feature film version in 2006, that took on more of a softcore pornography feeling than the witty artistic quality of its predecessor. The feature also features the talents (by that I mean nude body) of busty English model Keeley Hazell, which almost makes it impossible to watch this without getting linked to her leaked sex video with some soccer star (forgive me for not looking more into it). If you can look past the surrounding trashiness, the very overlooked, beautiful short is well worth the time.
As for Ellis, 2004's Cashback was just his second short, and the 2006 adaptation was his feature directorial debut. Despite being lauded for the short, critics were more mixed on the feature, and his career has since went to directing a lukewarmly reviewed British horror flick (The Broken) and returned to comedic short films with The Business Trip, although still not as successful as the film below. Here's hoping that one day Ellis can recreate the magic in this short, and that it may eventually be known more for than a way to see boobies in the vast collection of readily viewable breasts online. So, without further adieu, here is Cashback.
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