MOVIE - ONE HOUR PHOTO - Review Rating $$$$$ $$$1/2 (OUT OF 10)

STARRING - ROBIN WILLIAMS, CONNIE NIELSEN, MICHAEL VARTAN, GARY COLE, ERIC La SALLE & DYLAN SMITH

Robin Williams play a quirky, obsessive photo shop clerk at the local discount department store.

This is the second time this summer, that Robin Williams has played a psychologically disturbed character, with uncanny and eerie accuracy. He has come along way from Mork & Mindy. Williams portrayal, of Sy the photo guy, is so on the mark that with virtually no historical character development you know he is a ticking time bomb. As you watch, One Hour Photo, you'll realize we all have come across our own Sy at one time or another.

One Hour Photo was written and directed by Mark Romano. He uses the medium, he's working in, to full effect. Visualization, instead of dialogue, is the means by which the story is propelled. The rows upon rows of merchandise, in the discount store, instead of celebrating consumption are recast as the mundane, lifeless boundaries that imprison those within. Stark scenes of Sy's home life, accompanied by only the occasional narrative, serve to ratchet up the intensity as they visually convey the depth of Sy's loneliness and frailty of his psychological stability.

There are a few false steps in One Hour Photo. The subplot, a failing marriage, is triggered by one scene that comes out of nowhere and is not that well executed. The connection between this family, and Sy, is also partly developed through the eyes of the son. There is a particular scene, involving the son and his mother, that doesn't ring true in my opinion. Finally, the last scene, in which Sy gives us a little more perspective on the why he is what he is today was unnecessary and hits some false notes. It was almost like Romano felt compelled to explain the source of Sy's rage. Having so powerfully visually conveyed Sy's instability it would have been better to leave the source of it to the viewer's imagination. Either that, or a flashback earlier in the film, as opposed to a few canned lines at the very end.

One Hour Photo is a compelling examination of the tenuous constructs we create to get us through life. From Sy's obsession with quality, perfection compensating for inadequacy, to the wife of the rich husband who claims its not about the money and yet is prepared to stay after adultery, One Hour Photo challenges the viewer to reflect on their own circumstances. In the end Sy is deemed the crazed villain. But in so doing, One Hour Photo questions the sanity of those who have scarified their principles, in the name of career advancement and social standing. Think about that, the next time you drop off photos, that only capture the happy moments in your corporal existence.

Alternative reviews;

http://www.rollingstone.com/mv_reviews/review.asp?mid=2044444

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-one23f.html

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/OneHourPhoto-1115942/

Official Website:

http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/onehourphoto/

MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2002 LIST

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