June 3-9, 2006

Films of the Week

By Andrew Collins

Scan courtesy of Pixie, Vartan Ho #3911.

PREMIERE

One Hour Photo, 4 stars, rated 15

Saturday 10:10pm, C4

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen
Directed by: Mark Romanek (2001)

There's a key moment in this elegantly designed, deeply disturbing thriller in which Robin Williams's "one-hour-photoguy", Sy Parrish, is at his counter in a cavernous shopping mall, serving a regular customer. She casually mentions that her family are thinking of switching to a digital camera. His sunny salesperson's demeanour visibly slips and he urges: "Oh no, don't do that."

It's as if this simple technological advance -- more prevalent since the film's 2002 release -- threatens his very existence. And, in the context of this story, written and directed by Mark Romanek, it does. Sy, a lonely, seemingly asexual bachelor, lives for his job at the SavMart. In a creepy narration (actually, everything about him is creepy, right down lo the blue waistcoat he wears for work), he reveals that he has been in the trade for 20 years and considers it a privilege.

"Family photos depict smiling faces," he says. "Births, weddings, holidays, children's birthday parties. People take pictures of the happy moments in their lives." The implication is that he's desperately unhappy, but he lives vicariously through the snapshots of others. Indeed, he even orders an extra set of prints, every time, of his favourite family, the seemingly perfect Yorkins. And that extra set is for himself -- he uses the photos to wallpaper one wall of his house to form a terrifying shrine to normality. (I'm giving nothing away -- this early reveal is in the trailer.)

You just know things are going to get nasty, but what stops One Hour Photo falling into the trap of a run-of-the-mill, yuppie-nightmare thriller is twofold. First, there is Williams's unforgettable central performance. He makes the fastidious, softly spoken Sy more than just a cut-out weirdo. You will feel a tug of sympathy for him, at Ieast some of the way. (And to be fair, based on this, working in SavMart, with its constant muzak, would send anyone a bit potty.) Secondly, thanks to former music-video director Romanek and his cinematographer, Jeff Cronenweth {Fight Club), the film looks striking throughout. The bleached-out world of the mall contrasting with the sun-dappled apparent idyll of the Yorkins' suburban existence.

Couple this with Williams's mould-breaking killer in Insomnia (Saturday BBC3), and you'd have to say he's really developing as an actor.

RTDIRECT

To purchase

One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams is available from RT Direct for £8.99 until 30 June 2006 (RRP £17.99) inc p&p. To order, send a cheque (payable to ChoicesUK) to RT Direct, RADT9013, PO Box 190, Peterborough PE2 6UW, or call 0870 400 3850, quoting RADT9013.


© Radio Times 2006

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