August 2002

One Hour Photo

SPOILERS!

At the Savmart department store, “One Hour Photo” clerk Sy Parrish goes out of his way to know what his customers want, so much so that he almost seems like a member of the family—at least in his own mind. Sy is especially fixated on the Yorkin family, an attractive young couple with a little boy, whose personal photos he duplicates for his own collection to fill a huge emotional void in his private life. When cracks appear in the seemingly perfect façade of the Yorkin marriage, Sy takes it personally—and resorts to extreme measures to remedy the situation.

As the needy photo clerk, Robin Williams turns in a complex portrait of a man who wants to be helpful, while barely concealing a fissure in his view of everyday life. One can only guess that a long-suppressed trauma has finally bubbled to the surface. “No one ever takes a photograph of something they want to forget,” Sy maintains, with shades of Taxi Driver. Written and directed by longtime music-video helmer Mark Romanek, One Hour Photo touches on themes of voyeurism and an almost palpable loneliness, fear and disquiet. This chilling portrait of suburban psychosis could emerge as of the more talked-about films of the late summer.

© Film Journal 2002

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