Father Geek here... I used to work at a photo shop for about 4 months when I was in college in 67, we'd get bored and start going through all the pics, making up dialogue and plotlines to go with them. Most were quite ordinary birthday and family outing type shots, buuuuut every now and then we'd open up something that knocked or socks off, like the GO GO Girl's photos (this was pre nudity in Austin, they wore delightful little things called Pasties, all sparkles and knee high boots), or the time we found the Vietnam war shots, 3 rolls of grisly aftermath of battle stuff, lots of dead bodies including women and children, no Americans though. I made slide copies of those and used them later when I had my Rock Lightshow up and running. Well, any how This disturbing flick is a hell of alot closer to truth than you'd like it to be.
ONE HOUR PHOTO - * * *
Hey, Harry. J-Man, here. You have the best filmlover site of all time. Ok, adulation first. Next.. I just caught a late night showing of One Hour Photo and thought I'd send my review.
From his opening monologue about why human eyes appear red in most photographs, to his explanation of the word "snapshot" that sets his character's boil-over in motion, Robin Williams is creepy and effective as Sy Parrish. Sy "the photo guy", as he's referred to. He heads the processing booth at the local Savmart, and he seems to know everyone and vice versa. He takes pride in his work, especially when it comes to the Yorkin family: Nina, Will and their son Jake. "I process these photos as if they were my own," Sy tells us in soft-toned voice over. Not having a family of his own, we can sort of begin to see the dangerous implications involved there.
Or, maybe not. I was reminded of the Robert De Niro character from "The Fan" - a guy with just a little too much pressure in his personal life on top of just a little too much of an obsession for someone for comfort. Granted, Williams underplays the hell out of Sy (unlike De Niro's ticking timebomb), and the someone is a family, in this case, but the obsession is just as prominent. Also, I didn't get the impression Sy is big a whack-job. I mean, he's not exactly insane.. per se... Sure, he's got photos of this family taped all over a wall of his apartment, and makes a point to be reading the same book as Nina, and buys a toy for Jake that daddy wouldn't. AND he develops an extra stack of Yorkin photos each time they come in - a move that will eventually get him fired, and you just know that's going to lead to some kind of mental breakdown. Or, maybe not.
That's the brilliant thing about Williams' performance, I think: you expect what he'll do next, without ever really being certain. There is something of a dark side behind his welcoming smile and innocuous disposition. Repressed anger, or desperate loneliness. And, it - whatever it is - remains locked away, so that his life appears normal, even if it is only pretending. Um.. you wouldn't hate a meeting with this man, you just might think twice about having too long a conversation.
Is the film up to Williams? Not quite. Mark Romanek establishes a chilly enough atmosphere, and I liked the way his script kind of brings everything Sy's been going on about, in the end. But, there's too convenient a plot twist halfway through involving a random woman who stops by to develop film which contains a particular photo that pushes Sy over the edge. It's presented and handled well, but I still found it distracting. Then, there is the end, which is a copout. We don't need to have Sy's exact reasoning behind what he does - don't need to have it spelled out. And, why does he take the pictures he takes toward the end, when there were several others that more or less proved the same thing? Who was he taking them for? They don't lead to any big revelation or payoff.
Robin Williams may wind up with another Oscar nomination, but ONE HOUR PHOTO doesn't stand out as anything more than a showcase for that talent.
P.S. How's Moriarty doing with "Post Human"?
J-Man
