One Hour Photo [DVD] [2002]

Sy Parrish's job means everything to him; as a photo developer at a large retail store, he develops customers' pictures with great care and professionalism. Outside of his photo development domain, he is bland and invisible, a man truly alone. His life could not be more different from the lives he sees day by day in the pictures he develops - in the pictures of happy families, he sees everything he wants but cannot have. Thus, it almost seems natural that he would begin to fantasize about being a part of such a life, to have a family of his own. His favorite family is the Yorkins, a seemingly perfect young couple with one son. Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) is one of Sy's best customers; she's always bringing in pictures to be developed. Having watched the Yorkin family evolve over a number of years, Sy has adopted them as his own, making his own copies of all their pictures. He knows Nina, her husband Will (Michael Vartan), and son Jake (Dylan Smith) intimately through their photos; he knows where they live, what their house is like, and all sorts of additional personal details about them. In his own mind, he is Uncle Sy to Jake, and he tries to insinuate himself into the Yorkins' lives at just the time his own real life is beginning to fragment. His job is no longer secure, and it is during this troubled time that he discovers that the Yorkins are not the ideal family after all. That discovery is just more than he can take.

This is not the kind of role you associate with Robin Williams, but there can be no doubt that this man is among the most accomplished of actors. All of the natural energy Williams suppresses in his transformation to the externally calm, quiet, rather forgettable Sy Parrish lends his performance a power that few other actors could bring to such a role. Writer and director Mark Romanek gave Williams a completely different look, and the set design and cinematography reinforces that directorial vision to lend the movie a sense of hyperreality that proves as unsettling as Sy's descent into mental disconnection. The acting is superb all the way around, but Williams clearly steals the show with one of the most impressive performances I've seen in a long time.

Topped off by a writer/director/actor commentary, a really well-made behind-the-scenes featurette, an "Anatomy of a Scene" Sundance Channel Featurette, and an extensive interview with Robin Williams and Mark Romanek on The Charlie Rose Show, One Hour Photo easily qualifies as a must-own DVD.

Given the film's subject matter - lonely photo developer Si Parrish (Williams) develops a dangerous obsession with one family whose pictures he processes- every frame of the film is crisp and beautifully shot in a sterile style which reflects Parrish's soulless existence. Williams' performance is the antithesis of his earlier roles. Restrained, quiet and really quite frightening, he invests Parrish with the sort of desperate loneliness that many feel but never act on.

Several key scenes in the movie stick in the memory - our twisted protagonists' living room wall, covered in prints of his target family - his fantasties about becoming the new father figure - and most chillingly of all, his encounters with the family's young son, vulnerable and away from his parent's protection. Williams brings just the right amount of empathy to the role to make you pity rather than hate Parrish.

It's well paced and draws you in slowly - held together by Parrish's descent into madness and the final confrontation scene is uncomfortable viewing, but does take a few risks - don't expect to see the juicy murders so common to other films of this type. Had they taken that route, it would have detracted from the film.

There are no real surprises as to how the movie is going to turn out - but One Hour Photo is a solid slice of genre thriller that's well worth a couple of hours on a Friday night.

Robin Williams plays Si the Photo Guy, a bland, lonely and sad man whose life revolves around his job in a one hour photo booth. Desperate for affection, he's become infatuated, obsessed over the picture-book family of one of his regular customers. He wants to be part of that so much that he fantasises about being their favourite uncle. Then things start to unravel and the future of the family and his continued involvement in their lives is threatened, with chilling consequences.

There's so much repressed emotion in Robin's performance and this makes Si both an empathatic character and one whose slow derailment is truly terrifying.

I very rarely cry at films, but I cried at this film.