One Hour Photo
April 2003 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Robin Williams plays Sy Parrish, a lonely, repressed man who works at a dead-end job in the photo department of Savmart, a typical mall store. Think Target in blue. Having no family of his own, the "photo man" has taken an unhealthy interest in the Yorkin family. Since he has worked at the store going on nine years, he has been able to follow their progress and family moments through their snapshots. In fact, when Nina Yorkin asks for two copies of each print, Sy marks "three" instead. He takes the extra copies home to add to an entire wall papered with Yorkin family pictures.

To Sy, this is natural, since in his mind he projects himself into the family as "Uncle Sy," taking an especially great interest in the Yorkin's only child, Jakob, as his "nephew." All is as reasonably well as can be in such a sick situation, until Sy discovers, by looking at photos that an attractive young woman has brought in for development, that Will Yorkin is having an affair. Since this is not the kind of behavior Sy can sanction for "his" family, he sets out to teach Will and his girlfriend a lesson. At the same time, the store manager has caught on to the expense of those extra copies his employee has been making and fires him. Sy is pushed over the edge and things get scary.

Robin Williams is superb in this role. I cannot imagine why he was passed over for an Oscar nomination. Working from an excellent, insightful script, he brings a depth to his portrayal not often found in the psychological thriller genre. His Sy is a sympathetic character, a pathetic man whose hard knocks in life have been handled badly. Yet he is just odd enough to be menacing. You might feel sorry for this photo man, but it is unlikely you would invite him to dinner! When he falls apart, we both fear him and fear for him.

The supporting cast is, pun unavoidable, picture perfect, as is this DVD version of the film. The movie has been shot with three distinct color patterns. The store is white, bright, and steely blue: antiseptic, sterile, cold colors. Sy’s world, his small apartment, is filmed in hues that have color temperatures off just enough to be disturbing. Even Sy’s TV, when showing an episode of The Simpsons, exhibits colors that are in need of a Video Essentials tune-up: greenish, yellowish, sick colors. In contrast, the Yorkin home is photographed in the rich, vibrant, and appealing manner indelibly stamped on our retinas by the "Kodak Moment" TV commercials: picture-perfect colors. All of these designs are reproduced with near perfection on the DVD. Watching this movie will give your favorite monitor a real workout.

The sound is excellent in projecting dialogue, and at adding ambient soundfields to scenes, such as the one at the playground where Sy watches Jakob play soccer. The music score, by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek, reminds one of the music written by Pino Donaggio for Brian De Palma movies. The scoring is simple, including strings, celesta, harp, and solo winds, creating a seemingly innocent chamber-like sound, until played against the happenings on screen. Then, the composers add a quirky harmony or odd harmonic progression and every sound becomes sinister. The transparent scoring is expertly reproduced on the very good Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

The generous extras on this disc are interesting. The commentary, with Williams and Romanek, is more insightful than usual, containing discussions on evolving character and plot development. The actor-director team is also heard and seen on an intelligent segment of The Charlie Rose Show. Other ancillary materials include a Sundance Channel "Anatomy of a Scene" featurette, a "making of" featurette, trailers, and TV spots.

• Go Back