One Hour Photo [2002] Movie Reviews on CinemaClock

Right at the start of the film we begin as some stories begin and thats at the end. Robin Williams is being photographed by the police. There he is that sad man that you see at the grocery store at 2am that night where you happened to needed to get something, only to see a man middle-aged sad looking like he was being pushed forward by some invisible creation just occupying the earth for seemingly no reason whatsoever that guy that gives you the creeps makes the hairs on your neck stand up. You dont know why. What is he? Child Molester? Rapist? Violent Abuser? Butterfly Collector? Model Train Enthusiast? A Taxi Cab Driver? Catholic Priest? A Politician? Moriarty? A Serial Killer? Or maybe even just a safe mild mannered normal tired guy looking to pick up some Baby Ruth bars for the pregnant wife he has at home. But whoever he is, just something about him rubs you wrong. Right from the get go Robin Williams Seymour Parrish is just downright creepy looking and feeling. Close-cropped Blonde haired folks always do that to me. I think they first started messing with my head in VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. Then I discovered that Nazis did that. Then Roy Batty and Billy Idol convinced me that those with very short blonde hair spawn of the devil, up to no good. NONE OF THEM ARE CREEPIER THAN ROBIN WILLIAMS IN THIS! I mean, Sy the photo guy is creepier on screen than Freddie Prinze Jrs jive talking Fred in SCOOBY DOO. Which means I have a very strong phobic emotional reaction to Sy the photo guy. So I started thinking what makes Sy so damn creepy. First off he is meticulous. Folks that are meticulous are just not normal, and need to be in prison or somewhere far from me. Why? Well, when you see some gang-banging baggy pants wearing homie with a Glock You get concerned, but if a meticulous man coming at you with ill will. Well, he isnt going to just pop 4 bullets into you Hes probably got a knife, probably skinned dogs as a kid and put live bugs onto a peg board with straight pins then with tweezers pulled their wings and antennae off slowly so it would hurt more? No. So he could hear what the wing sounded like, so he could hear the cry of the bug in agony. You see, if a sloppy person is killing you, you can die with the thought This person is gonna pay for what they are doing to me. SY the photo guy, hell only get caught if he wants to get caught. Hell only let you die, when he wants to let you die. Hes meticulous. You can sense it. The pride he puts into operating that One Hour Photo Developing Machine. The way he remembers YOUR ADDRESS OFF THE TOP OF HIS FRIGGIN HEAD! Now, sometimes it is nice in the various service industries when somebody remembers details about you. Mostly in the waitress world. Like when they know you like Iced Tea and when you get to your table about 2.3 seconds later you have a tall glass of Iced Tea and Chips and tons and tons of Green Salsa. But your home address being remembered by a basic stranger not fun. Now, before this movie I never really thought about those strange folks at the one hour photo places, but now Now Im glad I switched to Digital Cameras. Maybe that was the underlying message beneath the film. Switch from film to digital. This film is more affecting propaganda against the sins of film processing than all the conversations Ive had with Robert Rodriguez. The idea that those people at the labs have cumulative knowledge about ones life by way of the photos theyve developed for us YUCK! No good. The idea that they might fantasize about joining your life, becoming part of your life Well, it has just never crossed my mind. And as you watch this film Mark Romanek is toying with your emotions and fears. Is Sy after little Jakob Yorkin? Is he in love with Connie Nielsens Nina Yorkin? Is he going to kill Michael Vartans Will Yorkin? What does he do to get arrested? What are Sys photos of? This is a psychological thriller meaning the thrills are in your head. They are there because Mark Romanek knows exactly how to toy with what is going on in your head. How weve been conditioned to respond to the heartbeat thump music Our fears of the meticulous stranger with an obsession on the innocent family in that nice house. The fact that Sy is a ticking time bomb that we see people pouring gasoline on his fuse while waving a flame thrower overhead. We know Seymour Parrish is going to do something. We know he has motives, the ability to carry it out and we know he has nothing to lose.