Review of One Hour Photo (2002) by Jonathan B — 29 Nov 2010

This felt kind of personal for me. I worked for over 2 years as a one hour photo-tech in a chain pharmacy store. A lot of the beginning of the film was pretty much my life at the time....and yes that's where the similarities end. The regular customers they describe, the 'seeing families grow up', the arguments with the machine techs over quality, cutting the negatives, giving free stuff when you messed up...all were very spot on. People get some very interesting photos developed...sometimes. But I digress.

Back to the critique: This film caught me by surprise, it was really creepy and I was seriously almost biting my nails during the final third. The pacing seemed slow at first but it was just establishing Sy's character and his relationship or lack there of with the Yorkins. Robin Williams was really great as the lonely, isolated, perhaps abused stalker that Sy was (similar to his role in insomnia). I felt sorry for him, more than afraid of him. I also loved the bit of sleuthing Sy did in the middle to get the film really going, that was a good spark that ignited the rest of the story.

I think Romanek did a great job capturing the job itself, the depth of Sy's character and perhaps what photos represent to us in general. There was some philosophy buried in there as well as suspense, which was unexpected. I like that Sy wasn't painted in one color, and was illustrated as someone who wasn't purely evil, but a product of a horrible childhood, misguided fantasies and loneliness. When his world implodes, not once but twice he finally breaks.