Review of One Hour Photo (2002) by Ben F — 02 Feb 2011

"One Hour Photo" employs are narrative arc that has been used by artists as diverse as Euripides and Darren Aronofsky-a character's gradual descent into a metaphorical hell, from which escape is impossible. While this storyline has the power to reveal people's darkest impulses, it is profoundly unsatisfying and in this review, I will explain why.

The first thing you notice about "One Hour Photo" is that each shot is its own version of a monochromatic blanket. A few times it's green, but more often, it's white, which is the color of the photo development station where Sy Parish (Robin Williams) works. And it's there that he meets Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen and Michael Varter), the couple who will become the subject of his obsession.

Nina and Will constitute what appears to be a picture-perfect young hipster family. Will runs a company, but nothing about his charmingly scruffy look screams CEO and Nina, meanwhile, is a perfect bundle of tight-fitting jackets and short dark hair. And their son Jake is just like you were as a kid--he tries to play soccer and convince his parents to buy action figures, and only occassionally succeeds.

It isn't until late in the film that Nina, Will, and Jake comprehend the effect they've had upon Sy, although it's easy to imagine yourself falling in love with at least the image of them. Nevertheless, they remain ignorant of the fact that Sy is stalking them and keeping their photos in his house. And when Sy's espionage leads him to discover that Will is in the midst of some rather nefarious business, he takes the offensive, determined to punish Will in order to protect the rest of his family.

You might think, based on this description, that Sy would be a complete lunatic, but he's nothing of the kind. While it's true that Mr. Williams play a scheming, loathsome killer in Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" (a superior film), he makes Sy's actions appear both repulsive and relatable. It may be impossible to root for a man who holds a naked couple at knife point, but when you are reminded that the man is only doing it because he's been driven mad by isolation and neglect, you can't help at least pitying him.

Which is why it is disappointing when the film concludes with no hope of Sy ever finding a family of his own to be a part of. I suppose there's a bitter truth to this coda, but to me it felt like a waste. With his nervous, ingratiating, yet protective demeanor, Mr. Williams presents Sy as a good everyman who made a wrong turn--in other words, he makes it conceivable that we, the audience, could make the same terrible mistakes.

And yet the film offers know suggestion of how to avoid making them. After watching "One Hour Photo", I concluded that Sy became a criminal because he was deeply lonely and for me, imagining how he might have overcome that loneliness and found a family of his own presents a far richer journey.

****:).