One Hour Photo | Review

Williams shines in indie thriller.

What a difference a choice in roles can make in the career of an American actor, while this is not a mega makeover of a Travolta in Pulp Fiction- this is a revival of sorts for an acting talent that was almost buried under the countless series of Patch Adams & Doubtfire type characters. This year, Robin Williams has accentuated his role-choices towards noir figurines- from the grossly over-the-top evil Death to Smoochy to the moderately presented psychopath in Insomnia and now this role, – as the person with whom you’d rather not hand in your photo developing to. What director Mark Romanek brings to the screen with his first major foray in feature film is an eloquent and disturbing portrait of a man with the unhealthiest of obsessions. The story de-‘rolls’ itself in the context of the prototypical gigantesque Wall-Mart-type department store of high, stacked-up shelves and sterile white aisles-reflective of the world in which the protagonist has created for himself, a world that suits him just perfectly. The counter that separates ‘Sy the Photo Guy’ from his customers is in fact a fence, a sort of safety zone that also protects him from a world of pain and lets him obsess in tranquility. Romanek drops some foreshadowing- a crack in the mirror, a bad cut of a photonegative and some echoes from television sets to ‘expose’ the danger and the eventual rupture in Sy’s equilibrium.

Romanek’s uses the first half of the film to do more than just give the viewer a physical perspective of the protagonist- the look of the puppy who needs a home and the kid that was picked on after school is established with the Mr. Roger’s costume and props like his home decoration but is further detailed with giving the viewer a psychological profile. By giving this character a voiceover narration- the viewer finds common ground with the supposed psycho, in one term he elaborates on the entire process of making the perfect picture and then humours us with the portrait of the types of customers that come for photo processing from the amateur porn lover to the new father and a dozen film rolls in hand. Instead of the protagonist label of the good guy turned into a bad guy/psycho, – we get this complicated character who passes himself off has a normal Joe with a ticking time bomb personality- this is much more effective in making the viewer feel uneasy and spooked out, the audience might find it harder to pass a quick judgement on the character. He literally becomes a more frightful character because he is shed under this light that makes him more human and we don’t have even snip-its of the J. Crew family to hide under.

The second half of the feature gets more into this Silence of the Lambs mode, where the audience tries to figure out his next moves and motives-the description of the origin of the word ‘snapshot’ is placed at the perfect moment-when our protagonist literally ‘snaps’. Whereas in the first half where the camera is balanced and the character is shot front and centred, – the second half Romanek explores a little of the character’s past bu using off-centred camera angles and shots. The very first admission to the audience that this man might be sick comes in a sequence that shows him prodding around his wallpaper creation. It could have been better introduced as a series of shots that begin with individual pictures in frames, then closing up to just shots of the pictures in the ‘prey’ family home and ends with a seamless cut into the other home with an extreme close-up on one picture and a slow pull-out zoom shot in the predator’s home. The film’s final push is more than just a chase following another mad chase-it gives the viewer enough surprises to hold up the interest. Romanek gives us an imaginative script, sharp visuals in a formula of a psychosomatic trippie thriller that might just push consumerism-the purchasing of the digital camera into a full swing.

Rating 3.5 stars