One Hour Photo (2002)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

One hour photo; referring to the time it usually takes for the photo developer Sy Parrish to get his customers' pictures printed. Nowadays in the digital age, people rarely need to go to a photo developer. They still exist of course, but are not as popular as they used to be. Even at this time however, digital was starting to take its place. Bad news for Sy, as the slightest suggestion that the family he often develops photos for might go digital frightens him...This movie completely blew me away. Robin Williams plays a character so nerve-wreckingly creepy, strange and pitiful that he gets under your skin so much he becomes real. That's some of my favorite kind of characters, where they feel so real that they almost start existing. I have no words for how layered his performance was. It would be so easy to just make a character straight-up creepy only, but the fact that you want to root for him even though you're worried at the same time he'll finally snap speaks volumes for how much he embraces this character. Sy is not a bad person, but he's still dangerous. He's compassionate, but also oddly disconnective. The Yorkin family (well, Nina and Jakob at least) like him, but they are not aware of just how much Sy really loves them, not only as customers, but like they were his own family members. The only times they get an idea of that is when he "jokily" refers to himself as Uncle Sy. When he does start to get a little too close to them, director/writer of this movie conveys it so subtly how they are pleased to see him, but at the same time they know something isn't quite right. Will Yorkin notices something odd about him right away, but doesn't think too much of him outside of just a "stranger". This is the core of the movie, the struggle of Sy trying to get something he can't have. It's almost immediately obvious he's close to them, but it's not enough. He wants to be more than just a nice familiar face. We as the audience know how easily he can break loose of any logical thought and restraint, which he does throughout but it happens to slowly and methodically we feel constant shivers long before the movie is over.Gary Cole is also good and kinda funny as his frustrated boss Bill Owens. All of the performances range from good to excellent, but if it wasn't for Williams the movie wouldn't have as much meaning as it does. It makes you think about how dangerous loneliness can be, how important support from family or friends is. We don't want to end up like Sy, but we strongly pity people who turn out that way.

A character study of obsession and growing madness, this is a film which makes up for a dearth of action by incorporating lots of suspense and subtle increases in tension into the running time. It's an exercise in psychological creepiness, boasting a near-flawless performance from Robin Williams, whose acting is introverted and subdued this time, instead of the awful loud comic character we have grown accustomed to from his earlier career. In fact, this might well be the best film of his long career. Without Williams, I'm not sure the film would be so successful in what it sets out to do; indeed, I can't imagine anyone else essaying the part as well as he does here: lonely, balding, blond-haired and totally alienated from the rest of society, he's a man without a life, whose obsession with a 'normal' family leads to tragedy.The surprising thing is that many scenes are riveting, despite not a lot happening. Moments when Williams faces the disapproval of his boss (Gary Cole, in another wonderfully nasty and impassioned turn) are engrossing, whilst the hotel set-piece at the finale keeps you guessing for as long as possible. Not sure I'm totally in favour of the (anti) climax, but at least it does away with cliché and presents things in a far more realistic light than we often see in the movies. Sober, surprisingly intelligent and insightful: worth watching for Williams alone.

This is a underrated psychological thriller about a one-hour photo lab worker named Sy that is obsessed with a family, that he develops photos for. Now what really drives this movie, is how it delves into Sy's mindset and what makes him tick. Now Robin Williams did a phenomenal job playing this character. He was believable as a psycho and yet still carried that teddy bear vibe, if that makes sense. Robin Williams played another role where he plays a psychopath during the same year, in the movie "Insomnia". But there is more sympathy for his character in this one, because despite it not really delving into his backstory. You as an audience member can sense where the character is coming from. Near the end, the plot seemed to drag slightly but that is only a small gripe. Besides that this is a existential and in-depth movie that deals with loneliness and memories. How some memories we try to hold onto while others we learn from it but want to forget. And how this can have an effect on a person. Overall, this is a worthy watch especially because of Robin Williams performance.7.6/10

I think the first time that I saw One Hour Photo I couldn't have been paying too much attention to it because I actually thought it was a very slow paced mediocre film. However, after now watching it for the first time since it's release and actually paying attention, it is definitely much better than I initially thought. The film is pretty slow-paced - that view's not changed - but when you pay attention, and understand & listen to what is happening, it doesn't feel all that slow as you become more drawn into the story, which is well written.The story isn't full of implausible moments, it doesn't have that "Hollywood touch" about it, and isn't full of the usual stalker film cliché's. I also enjoyed how it got you thinking if some of the later scenes were for real or if they were just in Sy's head. I mean the first main fantasy scene wasn't obvious until it's end, so maybe other scenarios weren't real either. It never confused you but it got you thinking which was good.The cast all do a great job with their roles, but Williams was the main standout with his performance of Sy. You know that Sy is obviously completely in the wrong with what he's doing but you still feel sorry for him and this is where Williams plays the part SO well. He doesn't make Sy seem like some clichéd sick twisted psycho...he portrays Sy as just a very nice but a sad, lonely individual whose only friend in life is his pet hamster. No matter what happens during the film, you just cannot feel any hate towards Sy.I sometimes don't notice the way scenes are filmed in movies at times, but the use of the colours to depict the mood for different scenarios was done well I thought. The main instance here being the difference between Sy's own personal world i.e. in his home, compared to that of the Yorkin's. It's not done for the sake of it nor to be "artsy", but done with reason which adds to the overall feel of the film.This isn't an amazing film, but it is enjoyable.