This is Robin Williams as we’ve never seen him before.
In “Insomnia”, (2002) with Al Pacino, he played a writer turned killer. This became a cop drama, a cat-and-mouse game with a showy performance by Pacino.
In “One Hour Photo”, Williams doesn’t share star billing and he owns this.
“1-Hour” is what I would call, events that could occur in real life. What makes it so real? “Sy” Parrish (Robin Williams) is like a million other people. A face in the crowd; a colorless individual who doesn’t stand out. What goes on in the minds of people who aren’t noticed?
PLOT. Sy Parris works at a mammoth superstore called “SavMart”, behind the photo counter. We soon learn that he is an obsessive perfectionist, producing high quality work. A “slight .3 blue shift to cyan” bothers him enough to cause a major argument with an AGFA repairman. During lunch, the store manager (well played by Gary Cole) notices Sy “spacing out”, drifting off into a daydream world. What is Sy thinking about?
In his mind, is the Yorkin family, his idolized, adopted, photo family. Because Sy is privy to people’s private moments, (moments that he would be locked out of otherwise), he begins to imagine himself as part of their lives. From the duplicate photos he’s pasted on his entire wall, he’s documented everything and, even worse, he fantasizes himself in the photos as “Uncle Sy”.
Sy attempts contact with Nina (the wife and mother) and Jake Yorkin (the son), played by Connie Nielson and Dylan Smith. He gives Jake a free “throwaway” camera. He just happens to meet up with Nina at the food court where he’s reading her favorite book. He drives to their house and imagines himself inside, enjoying himself inside “paradise”.
It’s a different story when he meets Will Yorkin, the father/husband. (Michael Vartan.) Will is cordial, but thinks Sy is odd. Under his breath, he tells his son not to talk to strangers, meaning Sy. Sy buys Jake an action figure which Jake cannot accept. This figure, holding a silver sword, becomes a totem – a symbol of revenge for Sy.
Sy’s house of cards begins to crash down when the store manager notices missing film chemicals, those used in the duplicate pictures. Sy is fired, effective at the end of the week. When he’s told, it’s as if his “family” has been killed.
Through coincidental circumstances, a girl he’s seen before (Erin Daniels as Maya Burson), brings in some film for developing. As it turns out, she’s having an affair with Will Yorkin, as Sy discovers within her photos. He swaps envelopes with Nina’s, so she becomes aware of it. Following them home, Sy watches, waiting for the big argument, which doesn’t come.
Frustrated, Sy turns his attentions on the manager’s daughter, who he photographs through a zoom lens as she plays on the front lawn. These are the last photos he has developed at SavMart and Bill the manager gets the message. Police are called into Sy’s apartment, where they discover all his photos with Will’s face scratched out. Sy isn’t there. He is at the hotel, where Will and Maya meet for the final confrontation.
Kudos to 20th Century-Fox and director/writer Mark Romanek for giving Mr. Williams this role, which easily could have gone to a dramatic actor. Williams really brings out the humanity of this character, a tragic man who has fallen through the cracks. If you notice, most of Sy’s customers don’t even look at him and he is keenly aware of it. In these modern times, technology has forced a major disconnect between people. I’d expect there are a lot of Sy Parrishs out there.
“One Hour Photo” is a quiet film, ominous with subtle effects, muted tones and an eerie, electronic background score. That is why it slowly gets under your skin, unlike other loud, deafening “thrillers”. That is also why “1 Hour” probably didn’t receive any Oscar nominations, as these types of films usually don’t.
I remember when “The Shootist” came out, Regin Philbin did a review. He describes it as the film we’ve been waiting for, the movie John Wayne almost didn’t make and the one we’ll always remember him for.
The same could be said for this.
Text © 2018 – Eric Reports
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