Customer Reviews

One Hour Photo (Widescreen)

5 star:		(79)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(36)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

In this Robin Williams film, Robin plays the character Sy Parrish, who is a lonely, socially awkward employee at a One-Hour-Photo discount store, "SavMart", which is a film name for a Wal-Mart like store. Sy has been working at the store for years, and develops photos, and during that time he has become really fond of the "Yorkins family" Since Sy has no family of his own, he has claimed this one as his imaginary family. Sy has many photos collected over the years, from all the times that the family has come to develop photos at the store he works at. But things start falling apart. Sy struggles with different issues at work and he ends up losing his job; and to make matters worse, he finds out that the husband of the Yorkin family is having an romantic affair with a co-worker from "Yorkin Design" the company he owns. From there things escalate, and Sy overeacts. I am not going to say what happens in the last 25 minutes of the film, but I will say this, the last 25 minutes of the film might surprise some people, as Robin Williams is talented, but this is not his usual role. Over-all I give the movie 4 Out Of 5 Stars

One Hour Photo is a film about a lonely man who develops film at "SavMart". His name is Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) and his job is really all he has. There are social ingredients missing in Sy's mind, and as we get to closer to him we begin to put the pieces together. He has nothing to live for outside of his job and the family that are his favorite customers. The Yorkins; Nina (Connie Nielsen), Will (Michael Vartan), and their only child Jake are the customers Sy most enjoys producing prints for. He sees them as the ideal family and he loves them so much that he creates copies of their prints for himself and he calls himself "uncle" Sy. Unfortunately for Sy, the Yorkins are not aware of any of this. Sy is awkward and socially inept. He walks through life without the ability to relate appropriately with others and it begins to weigh in on him. So what happens if Will Yorkin's friend Maya shows up with a roll of film of her own, and the pictures show her being intimate with Will? What will Uncle Sy do?

There is a genuine creepiness to Director Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo. Romanek's ability to organize images to appropriately translate in the music video medium is evidently a solid carryover to his work as a feature filmmaker. This movie has a remarkably unique feel to it and where most films of this genre would focus on the Yorkins as the protagonists, One Hour Photo has us staring directly at the empty and profoundly sad Sy Parrish. Jeff Cronenweth, the film's cinematographer, also deserves immense praise for his blinding white SavMart shots and overall crisp photography. The setting becomes Sy's element effortlessly, which is convenient because SavMart is Sy. He has nothing to go home to. The most praise though should land squarely upon Robin Williams. His role is a completely unrecognizable transformation and even though he received praise and a Saturn Award, he may have received more if this performance was in a different genre.

There is something about the way One Hour Photo unfolds that is appropriate but invariably predictable. The ending doesn't hit as hard as the effective (and credit-less) opening scenes. It's hard to say whether that is a criticism of the second half of One Hour Photo or a gigantic compliment to the first half. I can't imagine a better ending that wouldn't come off as overly contrived or too psychological but all of this is very much just nitpicking. One Hour Photo is a very good movie carried primarily by its lead performance and its original atmosphere.

this is a foray into dark territory for Robin Williams.he plays a very
disturbed and sick individual,who ends up stalking a family.this movie
has potential written all over it.psycho stalks family and incorporates
himself into their lives.so far,so good.now,enter Robin Williams as the
psycho,something new for him.Does Williams live up to the challenge?yes
not only does he bring the disturbed man to life,he also brings some
sympathy to the character.now,the character is certainly menacing,but
the writing restrains the character.he could have really let loose and
been even more psychotic than he is.the character is very low key and
understated,not necessarily a bad thing,but in this case,i think they
could have done more.while Williams acquits himself quite well with the
material at hand,i thought the inclusion of Connie Nielson as the
mother of the family being stalked was a master stroke.now,i'm not
gonna say this was a bad movie,because it certainly isn't.i just think
the main character and the story could have been more developed.my vote
for "one Hour Photo" is 3/5

Robin Williams gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the lonely, somewhat creepy, but wholly sympathetic Sy Parrish in this haunting, compelling directorial debut by Mark Romanek. Some have called this a scary movie, but One Hour Photo works on emotional levels much deeper than fear and disquiet. This is an intellectual thriller that at times borders on a work of art, a carefully constructed exploration of the depths to which loneliness and bland ordinariness can drive a man. Everyone reacts to this movie differently; by design, a sense of moral ambiguity pervades the story and its presentation. Many may see Sy Parrish as a bad guy (though certainly not a stereotypical one); those lucky enough to never know the hopelessness and loneliness this man endures or to experience the devastation of seeing your whole world pulled out from under your feet may look down their noses at him with denigration, not truly understanding his afflictions. Most of us, though, know what utter loneliness feels like to some degree, and I can't help but believe that most viewers will feel a connection to Sy Parrish that differs markedly from what they might anticipate going in. If you ask me, there is a bad guy in this film, but it is not Sy Parrish.

Sy Parrish's job means everything to him; as a photo developer at a large retail store, he develops customers' pictures with great care and professionalism. Outside of his photo development domain, he is bland and invisible, a man truly alone. His life could not be more different from the lives he sees day by day in the pictures he develops - in the pictures of happy families, he sees everything he wants but cannot have. Thus, it almost seems natural that he would begin to fantasize about being a part of such a life, to have a family of his own. His favorite family is the Yorkins, a seemingly perfect young couple with one son. Nina Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) is one of Sy's best customers; she's always bringing in pictures to be developed. Having watched the Yorkin family evolve over a number of years, Sy has adopted them as his own, making his own copies of all their pictures. He knows Nina, her husband Will (Michael Vartan), and son Jake (Dylan Smith) intimately through their photos; he knows where they live, what their house is like, and all sorts of additional personal details about them. In his own mind, he is Uncle Sy to Jake, and he tries to insinuate himself into the Yorkins' lives at just the time his own real life is beginning to fragment. His job is no longer secure, and it is during this troubled time that he discovers that the Yorkins are not the ideal family after all. That discovery is just more than he can take.

This is not the kind of role you associate with Robin Williams, but there can be no doubt that this man is among the most accomplished of actors. All of the natural energy Williams suppresses in his transformation to the externally calm, quiet, rather forgettable Sy Parrish lends his performance a power that few other actors could bring to such a role. Writer and director Mark Romanek gave Williams a completely different look, and the set design and cinematography reinforces that directorial vision to lend the movie a sense of hyperreality that proves as unsettling as Sy's descent into mental disconnection. The acting is superb all the way around, but Williams clearly steals the show with one of the most impressive performances I've seen in a long time.

Topped off by a writer/director/actor commentary, a really well-made behind-the-scenes featurette, an "Anatomy of a Scene" Sundance Channel Featurette, and an extensive interview with Robin Williams and Mark Romanek on The Charlie Rose Show, One Hour Photo easily qualifies as a must-own DVD.

The idea of this movie is not to scare the hell out of you with visions of gore, violence, or action. It's to scare the hell out of you with ideas of something that could easily happen to anyone. Little things that we take for granted could be something that brings the most harm.

In this case, the idea is that someone could be quietly "stalking" you without ever coming near you. Through a series of photos, a seemingly harmless man has come to know too much about a certain family. How did he get these photos? He develops them at the local photo lab. How many times have you given someone vacation photos or wedding photos? The idea that someone, through all of these photos, knows where you have been, where you live, even what the inside of your house looks like, is what makes this such a creepy film.

As far as casting, Robin Williams portrays the quickly-unravelling developer with perfection. He has just the right amount of madness to make it totally believable.

Overall, this is a movie that will get under your skin.

this is one of the worst movies ive seen and i am a big robbin williams fan ive seen every thing he has done even the birdcage i thought thet insomia was ten times better then this garbege but thats just me im sure there are heeps of poeople out there who like it i thougt it was bouring

I have to admit Robin Williams is one of the most talented actors out there. he can play so many different roles. In this movie he plays a very lonely and depressed man named Sy who just wants a family. He works at a 1-hour photo store and stalks a family with a young son who are long time customers. The intensity is very good. you can really see how scary Robin Williams can be and i thought that was impossible. but some how the suspense dies off, and the ending left me disatisfied. I won't spoil the ending you have to see it for yourself. Good performance by Robin Williams!

This movie was pretty good. Robin Williams couldn't have been any better in this role. He did awesome. I was spooked by him in just a couple minutes into the movie. What he did at the end was a bit too much for me but they pulled it together really great & it made a lot of sense. It's still a little too far out there but it's worth seeing at least once.

the Williams character creepy? I am not so sure. If there was anything creepy in this idiosyncratic movie it was the bland anonymity of the American Wal-Mart (the "Sav-mart") with its enforced fake smiles with which the employees (the "associates") are exhorted to meet the shopping clients and the sublimated brutality which underlies the ruthless corporate machine that dehumanizes both the buyer and the seller. I am convinced part of the unease with which the average American meets this movie originates in the guilt he/she/we feel acknowledging the treatment we give these faceless "associates" in our shopping complexes. Romanek provides us with an insightful visual vignette commentary which suggests that whenever we overlook another human being we become less human ourselves.

My dominant response to Sy "the photo guy" was that of sadness. Sadness over the loneliness of a man who was never allowed to grow and unfold, who has been forced to suppress his rage so that all that remained was a bland, sterile facade with no inner life; someone who has found meaning only in other people's (perceived) happiness. Do we see here any parallels with latter day obsession of the masses with celebrity and status? Is your regular B. Spears or NASCAR afficionado just another version of "the photo guy"?

This movie is about Sy's yearning for simple things - family life, love, connectedness. He believes, like so many of us, that other people could bring us happiness... if only..... The detective understands this, in the end, with a mixture of sadness, pity and even affection. Romanek did a great job with little money. And Robbins' performance was simply stunning - it was nuanced, forceful and sophisticated. This may not be a movie to entertain friends with ... but it certainly is a movie that made me think, feel and investigate. I recommend it.

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words," and "One Hour Photo" definitely proves it. The movie takes an ordinary action -having photos developed- and twists it into a deeply disturbing ride which delves into the psyche of the man behind the counter who knows more about you than you think he does. With unbelievable agility, comedian Robin Williams molds himself into a dramatic actor in this psychological thriller. He plays Sy Parrish, a photo-developer at a Wal-Mart type place. He is lonely, depressed, and traumatized, and longs to be part of the ostensibly perfect Yorkin family. Sy believes that Will and Nina Yorkin are the perfect married couple and that they have the American dream. Sy has an entire wall of his apartment devoted to pictures of the Yorkins, but his obsession is at first harmless. Then he stalks the Yorkins, visits their house, and dreams about them. When he realizes that Will has had an affair he forces Will and his partner-in-crime to do degrading actions so he can take pictures of them. Sy has built up an image of the Yorkins that is so powerful that when Will breaks up this fantasy Sy goes over the edge. "One Hour Photo" is a brilliant, well-directed, well-acted suspense. The cinematography and score add to what is the "Psycho" of the 21st century.