Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Neilsen, Michael Vartan
Director: and written by Mark Romanek
Rated: M15+
ONE Hour Photo is an impressive psychological portrait of a suburban loner, the one hour photo guy down at the developing shop in the local shopping mall.
We know that something sinister has happened right from the start when we see Robin Williams being interrogated by police officer, Eriq La Salle. The film is a flashback, narrated by Williams, with many observations about why we take photos, why we choose pleasant subjects and why we rush to save them if an accident occurs to our house.
Williams is Sy Parrish, a single middle-aged eccentric, who has a very affable manner which covers personal rage – which is finally and alarmingly revealed.
He is also a stalker, not that he would see himself as such, but he is obsessed with a particular family, especially the wife (Connie Neilson) who has always been friendly and courteous over the years of delivering film for developing. He also dotes on her son who is now nine. They are, literally, the family of his dreams.
Williams, who made Insomnia with his portrait of a vicious killer at the same period, acts against his usual screen persona, speaking quietly and sometimes scarcely moving. This makes Sy Parrish quite credible in an eerie kind of way and is a tribute to Williams’ versatility.
Audiences who think they are coming to see an action thriller will find the pace of the film too slow. Those who are prepared to watch and study the fine detail of the film and the interactions will not be disappointed.
