August 23, 2002

One Hour Photo

by Angela Baldassarre

SPOILERS!

Directed by Mark Romanek / Release date: August 23

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Cold and odd, One Hour Photo marks an impressive debut by music-video director Mark Romanek. However, the weakness in the script and Robin Williams' decidedly creepy performance make the film unappealing.

Sy (Williams) works at the photo-processing department of Savmart, a sterile and very austere discount store. One of his favourite customers is Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen), who's been coming there for years to have photos of her family processed. Sy is so taken by the Yorkins, in fact, that his entire apartment is splattered with photos of Nina, her husband Will (Michael Vartan), and their young son Jake (Dylan Smith). As we soon learn, Sy considers the Yorkins his extended family, so imagine his outrage when he discovers an indiscretion on Will's part. Couple this with Sy's firing from the job, and we have a good case of psychotic revenge. Unfortunately, the script never rises above a surface tension, with too much attention given to Williams' moody performance and too little to a thrilling climax. Particularly angering is a cop-out finale about Sy's motivations.

Not fun, but somewhat promising, One Hour Photo offers little thrills.

© Sympatico.ca 2002

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