September 5, 2002

One Hour Photo

SPOILERS!

Synopsis:

Funnyman Robin Williams steps out of character in this tense, low-key thriller that marked the feature-film directorial debut of music video veteran Mark Romanek. Semour "Sy" Parrish (Williams) runs the photo processing department at a large discount store; Sy is dedicated to his job, and takes great pride in his work. Sy's favorite customers are Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan), an attractive and cheerful young couple with a nine-year-old boy, Jake (Dylan Smith). Sy dotes on the Yorkins and their son whenever they drop off film to be processed -- something they've been doing quite often ever since Jake was born -- and Nina and Will are indulgent of Sy's attentions, regarding his as a harmless eccentric. What the Yorkins don't know is Sy is a desperately lonely man with no real life of his own, and he's been obsessively making copies of their photos, for years, imagining himself to be "Uncle Sy," a member of the family. Sy's tenuous hold on reality begins to collapse when he develops a roll of film brought in by a new customer that suggests Will has been unfaithful to Nina; the notion that his ideal family may be falling apart is troubling enough for Sy, and when he loses his job, Sy reaches the breaking point. One Hour Photo was screened in competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. -- Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Review:

It would have been easy for Robin Williams to play Sy Parrish -- Sy the Photo Guy to his customers -- as the monster at the mall. Going the psycho route is a ham actor's dream. But Williams, following the spare lead of director Mark Romanek (the video whiz bringing a striking style to the film), gives a performance that is riveting in its recessiveness and, as a consequence, truly, deeply scary.

Sy blends in with the antiseptic surroundings at the Sav-mart where he works. Quiet, anal, meticulous, he goes about his business. And Romanek goes quietly, anally, meticulously about the business of watching him. For the transparently lonely Sy, people's photos are personal. He connects to the photos he develops, none more so than those of the Yorkins -- wife Nina (Connie Nielsen), husband Will (Michael Vartan) and their nine-year-old son, Jakob (Dylan Smith). A quick, chilling shot of Sy at home -- it's as white and sterile as the mall -- shows his wall covered with photos of the happy family. Then Sy comes upon a photo of Will that tips the balance of his relationship with the Yorkins. It's explosion time, as Sy invades their house and crosses the fragile line that held his emotions in check.

Williams handles the gradations of Sy's madness with subtle skill -- we're a long way here from the soppy excesses of Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man. Sadly, Romanek's script settles for facile psychological profiling in the final third of the film, reducing a complex character to a trite case history of abuse and dysfunction. Until then, One Hour Photo strikes a nerve. Even when the lights of inspiration flicker in the film itself, Williams remains electrifying. -- PETER TRAVERS

© Rolling Stone 2002

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