Review of One Hour Photo (2002) by Leanne B — 11 Sep 2009

An eerie look at robin williams dark side. the story revolves around sy parrish, an aging photo processor at a local convenience store. his life is full of loneliness and bad memories, and he cherishes his relationships with his customers, especially nina yorkin and her son jake.

he has been processing their pictures for over 10 years, and has become obsessed with them, going to the point of making an extra set of their photos to keep for himself and post on his wall. he has even incorporated himself into their family in a sense, imagining himself into their pictures and dreaming that he was jake's uncle.

soon he discovers that nina's husband is cheating on her, and takes matters into his own hands. mark romanek, who is known for directing music videos rather than movies, wrote and directed this film, and it makes you wonder why he doesn't do other films.

clearly this movie is creepy, thought-provoking, and in some scenes, disturbing. robin williams gives an incredible performance, and his flexibility with his acting ability is shown magnificently as his character shows so much emotion, it is hard not to feel sorry for him, but also disgusted.

another standout performance in this was gary cole, who played sy's manager. after he fires sy, sy takes photos of his young daughter, causing him to take legal action. this is definitely for fans of the psychological thriller genre, and robin williams fans alike.