One Hour Photo Review by jmh314

One Hour Photo Movie Details: DVD, Theatre Date, News, Trailers & More

One Hour Photo Review

Written by: jmh314

Sometimes a movie terrifies you because of how realistic it is. I think that is why I love One Hour Photo as much as I do. Thats because it is truly possible for someone like our anti-hero in this film to exist in true life. In the horror genre, where most the villains are supernatural beings, demented slasher type killers, or the undead One Hour Photo gives us someone to be truly terrified of: your every day friendly neighborhood store worker. The tagline for this movie says it best "Theres nothing more dangerous than a familiar face". The premise of stalking isn't new, but in One Hour Photo it is executed to perfection.

One Hour Photo is about a photo technician that we come to know as Sy "the photo guy" Parrish. Sy works in the neighborhood superstore Sav-Mart, like a Wal-Mart or Costco, and is a seemingly quiet but friendly photo tech. He greets you with a smile, remembers the names of all his regular customers, and will do anything to make your pictures the best quality possible. He takes his job very seriously and doesn't want to be known as some clerk in a store, but more of a skilled craftsman at developing photos. However, deep down Sy is lonely and that loneliness leads him down a path that intersects with the Yorkins.

Nina Yorkin has been getting her film developed at Sav-Mart for a long time. Sy and Mrs Yorkin have a relationship that a lot of people have with their local store workers; friendly chit chat but nothing to develop any sort of friendship with. However, this is not the way Sy sees it. To him he feels like one of their family, having developed pictures fo Mrs Yorkin, her husband and their young son Jake for years . Sy feels like he knows everything about young 9 year old Jake, watching him grow up through photo's of his life.

We soon learn that Sy has more of an obsession with the Yorkin's than your average photo clerk. We find out after the first encounter we see with Sy and Nina & Jake Yorkin that he develops a set of their photos to keep for himself. Sy deliberately looks at them in a diner so the waitress will ask if it's his family to which he replies "Yes" and states that he is young Jakes Uncle. We also get a glimpse inside Sy's home and witness that he has pictures of the Yorkin's framed and on his dresser, among other places.

On the opposite side of Sy's obsession, we witness Mrs Yorkin be told by her son Jake that he feels bad for Sy because he seems sad and that he doesnt have any friends. This is two opposite ends of the spectrum as Sy feels like he knows everything about the Yorkins and Mrs Yorkin states to Jake that he shouldn't feel bad for Sy because they know nothing about him. Mrs Yorkin tells her son not to worry as Sy probably has lots of friends and a girlfriend. The viewers know how far off this is.

As more encounters with the Yorkin's occur, we begin to see Sy's obsession with them take an unhealthy turn. He begins to fantasize himself in their pictures. He sit in his car outside their house, and fantasizes about being inside and being part of the family. He shows up and watches one of Jakes soccer games. Sy even follows Mrs Yorkin to a mall and makes things appear to be a "chance" encounter. Their conversation leads to him admitting he sometimes feels like Jake's "Uncle Sy". Full blown obsession coming to the surface with Mrs Yorkin being none the wiser.

Things take a dark turn when Sy's boss begins to notice unusual behavior and checks the logs to notice hundred of prints unaccounted for. Sy is soon told he will finish out the week and be let go. On his last day Sy finds out through other photo's that Mr Yorkin has a dark secret of his own. Upon this discovery Sy decides to take it upon himself to reveal this and do whatever it takes to solve it.

The performance of Robin Williams as "Sy the photo guy" and the atmosphere of this film is what makes this film such a success. Robin Williams delivered the performance of his career. He plays the quiet and socially awkward role to perfection, and adds an element of intensity to his character that not many actors would be able to do. His performance added with director Mark Romanek's unsettling moods and gritty cinematography make for one dark and intense journey. For a director who's line of work is music videos, he was able to bring some of that gritty music video quality to this film and use it to tighten a grip on it's viewers.

One Hour Photo is definately one heck of a mind trip because of how true to life the story seems. Everyone who has ever gotten film developed should know that their information is on file with phone numbers and addresses. Unfortunately most people never think about the people is viewing or have access to this information. Everything that happens with Sy in this film is as realistic as possible, which I can vouch for. I worked as a photo tech at a Walgreen's and everything Sy did is a possibility. From what he found out about his customers, to why he was fired, it is as true to real life as humanly possible. Adding a performance like Williams' and the vision of Mark Romanek to an realistically unsettling storyline makes for one of the most underrated and under appreciated horror/thriller films ever. I dare you to watch this film and not begin exclusively printing photos from the comfort of your own home afterwards.

This is a community member review and not a staff member review. We appreciate and respect the opinions of our readers and are gratefull that they took the time to contribute it.