Rating: Summary: Film of the Year 2002 - One Hour Photo Review: One Hour Photo...a masterpiece film. Robin Williams performance is amazing. It would be a crime if he is not nominated for best actor. Williams is by far one of the best actors for this type of movie. Mark Romanek creates a visual work of art out of this lonely person turned psycho film. Greatest movie of all time.
Rating: Summary: What is Williams trying to pull? Review: Surely, Williams is aware of how brilliant his performance is in this film. In fact, anyone who watches will be stunned to see how much he doesn't look like Robin Williams. This is one of the greatest performances ever recorded on film. William's plunge from Alienation into Violence is the best example of this since Scorsese's Taxi Driver. The depth portrayed by Williams can be best thought of as a cross between John Wayne in The Searchers, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, and Kevin Spacey's John Doe in Se7en. A truly brilliant performance. I'm not saying this film is better than those films though. Surely, it isn't. I am saying that Williams deserves the Oscar for this film. In fact, he deserves two. This is his great performance. This is his the crown of his career. Good Will Hunting? No, this isn't a watered down self pitying performance -- this is art. The academy has nominated Williams for some pretty trashy performances. That's fine though, because in twenty years, when people watch those films, then watch One Hour Photo, they will see exactly how brilliant Williams is in this motion pictures. I'm really not even a fan of Robin. I think his only other good performance was in The Fisher King, and Awakenings. William's turn in Insomnia is NOTHING compared to this. When considering whether or not you will see this film, let the reason you go be Williams performance, and William's performance alone.It's a pretty good thriller as well. I'd say a cross between Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Ford's The Searchers, Lynch's Blue Velvet, and Todd Solondz's Happiness.
Rating: Summary: snapshots and suspense Review: Robin Williams expands his repertoire further in "One Hour Photo", this time playing an outwardly pleasant, inwardly strange and lonely photo technician who takes quite an interest in the lives of his customers. Over the years he comes to know them, their houses and pursuits. He sees their children growing from the many rolls taken during infancy, through childhood birthdays and outings. He takes a special interest in the Yorkin family, and when he makes a discovery that stabs at his heart, he becomes so upset and distracted that he loses his job. In the ensuing action, more secrets are revealed. This first half of this film is extremely well done, building your interest in the characters through vignettes of ordinary life. The second half rather deteriorates into an "action movie", but the suspense carries you along until the final frame. Williams is superb in "One Hour Photo". Recommended as blend of chick-flick and action.
Rating: Summary: CREEPY LITTLE FILM Review: WOW, I WISH ROBIN WILLIAMS WOULD TAKE MORE CHALLENGING ROLES LIKE THIS ONE. COMPARISONS TO HIS LOW KEY PERFORMANCE IN "WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP" ARE NOT OUT OF PLACE. WILLIAMS DOES NOT PLAY A PATHETIC "HOLLYWOOD" PSYCHO IN THIS FILM, BUT RATHER A VERY REALISTIC AND FRIGHTENING CHARACTER. EVEN THE NARRATION IS INCREDIBLE - SOME REALLY INTERESTING COMMENTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY AND ITS CONNECTION TO OUR DEEPEST INNER STRUCTURE. SUBVERSIVE AND DARK, THIS IS LIKELY TO BE A "SMALLER" KIND OF FILM, BUT ALSO A TIMELESS CLASSIC. IF I HAD TO COMPARE THIS TO ANOTHER FILM, I WOULD SAY IT'S IN THE SAME VEIN OF "TAXI DRIVER" AND FILMS THAT CENTER AROUND A TOTALLY SELF DESTRUCTIVE CHARACTER. SEEING ROBIN WILLIAMS SO SOMBER...REMINDS ME OF JERRY LEWIS IN "KING OF COMEDY" -- SEEK THIS FILM OUT!! INCREDIBLE ACTING HERE.
Rating: Summary: good Review: It's a really good psychological thriller. Unpredictable as hell. Robin Williams has been acting much better than usual lately. He's got that going for him, which is good. There's a guy named Yoshi in this movie too.
Rating: Summary: Who's developing YOUR photos??? Review: Robin Williams delivers an eye-poppingly eerie performance in "One Hour Photo", a 96-minute journey into the mind of one of those normal, everyday people we encounter day to day without a second thought. However, Sy (Williams) is actually NOT one of those normal people. Sy the Photo Guy is a man who takes exceptional pride in his work as the film developer par excellence at the neighborhood Savmart. From the grain detail to the tint of the prints, Sy consumes himself with making the recorded picture memories of people as memorable and as true to life as possible. With one customer, though, he takes this dedication too far. The Yorkins are a "picture-perfect" family comprised of the attractive mother Nina (Connie Nielsen), the handsome father Will ("Never Been Kissed"'s Michael Vartan), and an adorable young son Jake. Their frequent trips to the Savmart have allowed Sy to get close to them through the sunshine images of their family photos. We soon realize that Sy has an unhealthy obssession with their happiness, and he finds himself fantasizing about being a part of the utopic lives of the Yorkin family. He even goes so far as to reprint all of their photos to frame in his own home, and he begins to stakeout the family's home and spy on their son. The rub comes along when Sy discovers that Will Yorkin has been having an affair with one of his coworkers. With good intentions, Sy tries to tell Nina about her husband's wrongdoings, but when he sees that Nina won't confront Will about it, Sy takes on a more proactive role in their lives. This is where the movie begins to take an even more bizarre turn... Which I won't share. :p This film is a great psychological maze, with Robin Williams, comedic genius, playing this most unlikely role. It is a story of how loneliness can transform people and how suppressed emotions and motivations can escalate into bizarre circumstances. Very thought-provoking and inescapably chilling, "One Hour Photo" is a film worth watching.
Rating: Summary: Gets "under the skin" Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: One of the best films of 2002! Review: If one needs proof of Robin Williams' dramatic acting skills, then he/she needs to look no further than last year's highly effective "One Hour Photo". Here, Williams' cinematic performance is worth many a rave review, and clearly puts him in the spotlight, up close and personal as Sy "the one hour photo guy". We look in on our study in action, working as a lab photo technician at a Wal-Mart-type knockoff. While developing many a photograph, one particular family catches Sy's eye, as well as his personal camera lens, as Sy's job becomes his personal obsession, an obsession that could wind up going too far if Sy isn't careful. In fact, this job means everything to our photography expert, as this storyline is conveyed clearly to the viewer. As the film progresses, the story itself becomes more intense, with the action becoming even more developmental with each passing scene. But, Robin Williams, whose performance here is nothing short of breathtakingly spectacular, isn't the only star whose performance shouldn't go unnoticed. Kudos should also go to Gary Cole, whose performance as a superstore manager and Sy's boss, although somewhat brief, is also worthy of high marks, especially in the intensity dept.. Cole's character is the absolutely perfect opposite foil of Williams' character, where the latter exhibits a Type B personality as opposed to Cole's Type A demeanor. With so many hooks to keep the frequent moviegoer (and regular video purchaser) entertained, and with its star and supporting cast's performances to boot (including Eriq La Salle's [of "ER" and "Coming To America" fame] credible role as a police detective), "One Hour Photo" just might earn Robin Williams the Best Actor Oscar of 2002. This "One Hour Photo" is always in service at your local video retailer today. With all the recent upgrades in video technology, the DVD of this title is your sure ticket to intense chills, thrills and spills, so don't miss out!
Rating: Summary: Creepy & Deeply Disturbing Review: ONE HOUR PHOTO is a deeply disturbing film about a man named Sy who works at the one-hour photo counter at a Sav-Mart department store. Robin Williams plays the role of Sy to perfection, maintaining a personality of thinly veiled quiet despair in which even his smiles and laughs feel more like heartache and tears. The suspense begins when it becomes clear that Sy's whole life revolves around one of the families who has been developing film with him for the past nine or ten years. Sy has seen years of pictures of all the best times in this family's life: birthdays, holidays, vacations, and all the happiest moments. Lacking any close family or friends of his own, Sy begins to fantasize himself as part of that family... envisioning himself as "uncle Sy" who is part of all those happy times. When Sy loses his job at the photo counter and witnesses something he feels is wrong, he snaps like a coiled spring.
ONE HOUR PHOTO is a masterpiece of suspense, as it's not completely clear what's really going on until the very end of the film. I was extremely impressed with Robin Williams' performance, as his acting was riveting, convincing, and the character he portrayed was creepy in the extreme.
Rating: Summary: Modern day realism Review: Sy Parish (Robin Williams) is a sad, lonely man. His life is his work as a 'one hour photo technician', and the only human involvement in his life is with his customers. Little do they know that Sy harbours an extreme obsession with the snapshots he develops, and one family in particular has been forever in his thoughts since the first day he provided them with a service. Just how far this obsession will go is for you to find out.
I enjoyed this movie because in a strange way I was made to sympathise with the villain (Williams). I can imagine this scenario being played out around the world, even though it isn't a pleasant thought to have.
There aren't many special effects in this movie. Indeed, it is relatively low budget in comparison to mainstream Holywood. But, with a talented actor such as Robin Williams, and a role that is different from most of those you would associate him with, One Hour Photo keeps you involved to the end with its sadistic depth of character and realistic plot.
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