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Cashback
2006 (parts released in 2004)
An art student named Ben is suffering from a bad break-up. The most
significant symptom of his love sickness is that time refuses to pass for him.
When he's awake the clock ticks in slow motion. When he's asleep ... well,
that's his biggest problem. He can't sleep. He just lies there thinking about
his outrageously beautiful ex, who is now lying in the arms of a slick
douchebag. He chooses to cope with sleeplessness by taking a job in an
all-night supermarket, where every employee has the same problem with time
passing much too slowly. In this new environment, he passes the time by
participating in hijinks with fellow employees and by fantasizing about
beautiful female customers. Eventually he finds a new love where he least
expects it.
The most interesting things about the film creation's is that the
feature-length film is an expansion of a 19-minute short which was nominated
for an Oscar in 2004. Because the director was able to retain all the cast
members, the original nineteen minutes of footage appears in its entirety in
the protracted 2006 version. Apart from that, there's nothing groundbreaking
about the form of Cashback. It's an offbeat romantic comedy with a first
person narration by a shy, sensitive artistic type. Occasionally he
illustrates an important point about his character by narrating a story about
his childhood, ala The Wonder Years. We've seen that done more than a few
times. It's the kind of concept which, when done wrong, can either cause a guy
to grow a vagina or to throw solid, heavy objects at the TV screen. But it's
not done wrong here. Speaking as one who spent more than a year working the
all-night shift in a retail store (and actually liked it most of the time), I
can attest to the fact that the writer really seems to have been there, and
done that because the film portrays that environment with sincerity and
accuracy, albeit with selectivity. The film has great charm, gentle
surrealism, off-kilter humor and acres of very naked flesh in one section. In
fact, one of the film's greatest pleasures is the juxtaposition of its sweet
G-rated sensibility with its lingering studies of beautiful naked women.
It's not a film likely to be remembered as a favorite, but it's a perfect
date movie for grown-ups. The women are likely to appreciate the film's innate
sensitivity and the romanticism of its ending, while an insincere
scoundrel like me can pretend to enjoy all that soft-hearted crap in order
to manipulate his date's heightened emotions, all while ogling some hot naked
chicks, and picking up a few laughs along the way.
Men rate it 7.6 at IMDb, women 7.8. Although IMDb voters have taken it to their hearts, film critics were tepid
in their reactions. Rotten Tomatoes estimates that 47% of the reviews were
positive, and Metacritic estimates that the average review was 54/100. Roger
Ebert scored it a 2.5/4, but pushed it to a "fresh" in his RT rating, and
James Berardinelli was in the same general ballpark with three stars.
I watched the film on DVD, but I noticed that Mkone had already done
captures from a hi-def TV broadcast (720p), which was slightly better quality,
so these are his videos:
By the way, the DVD also includes the original Oscar-nominate short and a
brief "making-of" docu.
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OTHER CRAP:
Catch the deluxe
version of Other Crap in real time, with all the bells and whistles,
here.
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L'Innocente
(1976)
Visconti's The Innocent is an Italian period drama based on a novel by
Gabrielle d'Annunzio about the nature of 19th century marriage among the
aristocracy. A nobleman (an early role for Giancarlo Gianini) is
having an affair, and explains to his wife, Laura Antonelli, that he likes and
respects her more than ever, but has no passion for her, and requests that she
simply put up with his philandering. He never doubts that she will obey. After the affair cools,
her returns to his wife only to find her pregnant, obviously not by him. He
pushes for an abortion, but she will have none of it, and his mother is
ecstatic. The film does not end happily for anyone.
It was the final film directed by Luchino Visconti, and this is thought to
be one of his better films, but it is a daunting 2 hours and 5 minutes with
only about 15 minutes of plot so some viewers, including me, may find the pace
slow and the story less than compelling, That does not detract from the fact
that it is an excellent film in many ways. The period is recreated
meticulously and those who love costume dramas will find lots of gowns to
ooh and ahh over.
Scoop's notes: Visconti's films, like those of
many of the great Italian directors, are an acquired taste. Over the years I
have managed to acquire a taste for DeSica, Bertolucci, and Fellini, but never
for Pasolini, Visconti or Antonioni. Visconti's movie are all rated high at
IMDb. In fact, L'Innocente is one of his lowest, at 7.4, but I'll be damned if
I can explain why this or any of the others are considered to be so good, not
even Death in Venice or Obsession, two films which critics love to name-drop.
I suppose there must be some important part of my brain missing.
It is finally available on DVD from RLDVDs.com in a region-free PAL in Italian,
with English subtitles. This Australian DVD is the only one ever issued of this
film. The transfer is good, and the audio crisp. The subtitles are competent.
There is only four minutes of nudity, but it is full frontal exposure
from Italian superstar Laura Antonelli in her prime.
Laura Antonelli
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Notes and collages
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Tina Louise, Ginger from Gilligan's Island in a VERY minimal
pre-Gilligan flash in something called The Good Guys and the Bad
Guys.
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For several years there it seemed
that Ritual would be Jennifer Grey's farewell to acting, but she
came back about a year ago and has started to work again with a few
TV appearances and a small role in a film called Keith, about which
I know nothing, other than it is rated an improbable 9.3 at IMDb,
9.7 by women. (The balloting appears to be phony, with 89 out of 109
viewers scoring it a ten, but maybe is just one of those
masterpieces ignored by the mainstream.)
Anyway, Jennifer didn't get naked in Ritual, but she looked great
and got skimpy in these film
clips. There was some nudity from other women named
Natasha "Shake Your" Budhi
and Kristen Wilson. |
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