Short Film - Cashpoint

Premiering at the London Independent Film Festival on Friday, Susan Omand watched Monique Needham’s short film Cashpoint...

Camille decides to go on a date with a guy she met on dating app. Cautious at first, she is eventually won over by his looks and charm. That is until the bill arrives…

I’ve shortened the synopsis above to tone down the “click-bait-ness” of the original because this short film doesn’t need added empty sensationalism, it’s a very neat premise as it is; you don’t need to be told that “What happens next she could never have predicted” because I think it’s implied that there’s a twist of some sort without spelling it out. Or maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, on to the film itself. It opens on Camille (Ani Nelson) walking down a street in her neighbourhood a few days after going on an internet date, chatting to her friend Sabine on the phone and complaining that the guy, Craig (Kadeem Pearse), hasn’t texted her back yet. Sabine suggests all sorts of over-dramatic reasons why he might not have been in touch and they laugh about the dating app. Camille tells her that she’s on the way to visit Sabine anyway but she just needs to get some money from the cashpoint. The titles go up as we freeze-frame on Camille staring at something and looking confused. Flashback to the date, in a fancy Italian restaurant that Camille hasn’t been in before, even though it’s in the same neighbourhood, and we get Camille’s inner monologue as well as the chatting between her and Craig. Dinner and wine leads to more wine and yet more wine as Craig turns on the charm offensive and they seem to be getting on great. It gets to closing time at the bar and Craig hands over his bank card to pay, to be told that they don’t take cards…

I’ll not say any more as I don’t want to give any spoilers away but the ending is very clever, adding a lot of hidden depth and asking so many more questions than it answers which, for me, is a good thing. It left me laughing out loud in appreciation at the end as it registered, just at the same time as it did for Camille in the film, what had actually happened. So much of Craig’s back story is implied in that last thirty seconds or so that opens the whole thing up into being a very enjoyable feature film if it took the story of the lead-up to the date from Craig’s perspective and all the organisation that has to go in to it, because I’m sure it wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. The chemistry between Camille and Craig was very well constructed, growing as it should as the date went on, and the writing and acting were very effective in keeping the whole tone of the film light and relaxed too. It was a fun film to watch, as well as being funny, although I didn’t understand the need for some of the odd random close-up camera angles, especially at the start. Maybe it was to add interest to what might have felt like long, visually similar scenes as Camille walked down the road or sat in the restaurant, but it distracted me from what was being said and made the whole thing feel choppily edited, which was not the case.

However, that aside, Cashpoint is a good fun short film, intelligently presented, that would expand well and showcases the work of the two lead actors and the writer as names to look for in the future. If you’re at London Independent Film Festival this weekend, do try and see it.



Cashpoint screens at the London Independent Film Festival on April 12th, at 6pm, at the Genesis Theatre in London.