| Product: |
One Hour Photo (DVD) |
| Date: |
03/06/07 (145 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Robin Williams
Disadvantages: Not as exciting as you might expect
Sy Parrish is a lonely man. He has no friends, no family and lives alone in a dull apartment, lifeless apart from the hamster that occupies a cage on the side table. For most of his working life, Sy has worked in the local supermarket on the photo-developing counter, where has become a popular and friendly face to the inhabitants of the local town. More commonly known as “Sy, the Photo Guy”, Sy sees the most intimate sides of the townsfolk through the reels of camera film that they bring to him for development. He sees it all; amateur porn, endless baby photos, cute pet photos and, of course, a seemingly relentless flow of cute, happy family photos. As Sy, himself tells us, nobody ever takes a picture of a time that they would rather forget.
Sy Parrish is also a very disturbed man, who has developed an unhealthy obsession with one particular local family, the Yorkins. Nina Yorkin is something of an amateur photographer, and having lived in the neighbourhood for over a decade, she has become one of Sy’s most loyal customers. Sy has observed the family for as long as he can remember, more recently developing an affection for their young son, Jake, whom he has seen grow from a baby. Sy has nothing but affection and admiration for the family, and longs to be a surrogate family member. But then events take a twist for the unexpected and Sy’s life takes a terrible downturn. A chain of events conspires to put Sy on the very edge of insanity – and the Yorkin family will soon live to regret the day they ever took their camera films to Sy Parrish.
The plot may sound unusual, but One Hour Photo is a genre film through and through. It is the latest in the long line of “Enemy Within” psychological dramas that cinema audiences seem to enjoy with relentless aplomb. And yet strangely enough, there are no conventional heroes and villains in One Hour Photo. This is a simple tale of how a vulnerable child becomes a dangerous man. Whether that makes him evil or not is a question that you are left to answer for yourself.
The world in which Sy lives is surreal in its portrayal. His place of employment is stark, white and intimidating. The aisles of the store seem to run for hundreds of metres, devoid of features and absent of either colour or warmth. Sy’s car is similar – a bland, white family car with no remarkable features or style. Even Sy’s apartment is lifeless – drab colours, clean lines and a lack of personal touches. In stark contrast, the Yorkin’s lives are rich with colour and life. Their home is bright, full of colour and toys and rich with sentimental objects. He knows this because he sees it in the endless reels of camera film that he develops week after week and he longs to be a part of it. His only hope of enjoying part of that world is to steal additional copies of the Yorkin’s photograph, which he then uses to create an enormous collage across the entire length of his living-room wall.
Sy is seldom threatening in his matter, instead appearing to be calm, quiet and reserved. But beneath the surface, we know that he is simmering away, and it is merely a question of when he will explode rather than if. The catalysts of Sy’s descent into madness are cruel, and almost contrived, but the story wends its way cleverly through an eerie plot line that manages to intrigue and unsettle the viewer in almost equal proportions. We are never really frightened of Sy, but we can’t help wondering why that is and that in itself is rather unsettling. One Hour Photo is never terribly exciting, but it is very absorbing from start to finish.
Robin William’s portrayal of Sy is excellent, and extremely accomplished. Whereas he never managed to shake off his comic status in the film Insomnia, in One Hour Photo he is completely successful. In his dull supermarket uniform, complete with comfortable shoes and friendly glasses you might imagine that he would cut quite a humorous dash, but such is his posture and expression that you never really trust him. His methodical approach to everything is compulsive and rather disquieting and his final descent into deranged anger as convincing as any other movie madman that you are likely to see. It is his ability to bring out our sympathy that is the most successful however. Even when he is shown at his absolute worst you just know that life has made him the way that he is. In One Hour Photo, you will never be quite sure who you believe the victim to be. Such is the power of Robin Williams (and the size of his on screen presence) that the rest of the cast almost seems to pale into insignificance. That aside, the most memorable for me was probably Michael Vartan, whose sheepish portrayal of a guilty husband was spot on.
One Hour Photo certainly isn’t the best thriller that I’ve seen. At times it seems quite dull, and there is quite a lull before it starts to get going. The director’s previous work has generally involved pop music videos and I can’t help thinking that this contributed to the generally very superficial feel to the proceedings. There is nothing particularly nasty in the film, although a gory dream sequence, frequent strong language and some moments of violence combine to give need for a 15-certificate. If you like psychological thrillers, then One Hour Photo is generally very good. It is certainly very intriguing, and worth watching to see Robin Williams as you’ve never seen him before.
Summary: Intriguing but odd thriller
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