Product Details

• Language: English
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (314 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007AJKM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,880 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "One Hour Photo" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One Hour Photo may be more civilized than Taxi Driver, but it's just as effectively creepy. Like Martin Scorsese's classic, this riveting character study is so compassionately detailed that we sympathize with poor Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) even as he grows increasingly unhinged. Sy is a meticulously dedicated one-hour-photo technician, but the pictures he processes--particularly those belonging to the successful, seemingly happy family of Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan)--turn into the unhealthiest kind of obsession. The Yorkins' snapshots portray a joyful life that the lonely and traumatized Sy could never hope to achieve, and he sinks deeper and deeper into the solace they bring... until evidence of infidelity turns him into a seething crucible of righteous indignation. Propelled by Williams's flawless escape from the feel-good schmaltz of earlier roles, One Hour Photo is a simmering tour de force, tempered by writer-director Mark Romanek for maximum psychological impact. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

Robin Williams in serious mode, playing a nowhere man-Sy Parrish, the photo guy at the mall, who wears wire-frame glasses, a white shirt, and a tie clip that we're meant to take as a kind of emotional chastity belt. Sy becomes unhealthily obsessed with a young and beautiful suburban family-wayward father (Michael Vartan), good mom (Connie Nielsen), and adorable young son (Dylan Smith)-and plasters his wall at home with extra prints of their family snaps. Mark Romanek's psychological thriller features sterile white environments and lots of shots in which Williams is grimly isolated in sinister, sterile sets. The movie's experimental tone, however, doesn't disguise a rather low-grade and unpleasant form of suspense. Romanek is caught between making Sy dangerous and making him sympathetic, but any terror or pity we might feel gets crimped by the film's queasy narrative logic, which keeps us in the dark about Sy's nature right down to the unsatisfactory final scene. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exemplary work, genuinely chilling, and on target, August 25, 2002

By 

Algernon D'Ammassa (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Much of the attention this film receives will likely focus on Robin William's performance as Sy, a lonely, middle-aged man who works at the photo booth of a chain department store in what looks like California. Williams has turned in a melange of performances in twenty years: some gripping, and some cliche. He's good at extroverted bursts of energy; he can also soften his eyes and wrap himself around your heart. This, however, is his finest hour. He completely departs from his previous characters and creates a character that is fully realized, multi-dimensional, and psychologically on-target. It his breakthrough performance as a serious actor.

It would be a shame, however, not to notice that this is also a very well-made film. A very sad but all-too-familiar story about loneliness and social isolation unfolds at a compelling pace, with a script that resists patronizing its subject or sensationalizing it. We have no choice but to notice the use of color to distinguish worlds; the flat, washed-out landscape in which Sy is imprisoned, and the lush, brilliant hues of the family life he aches for.

As events unfold, we stick to Sy's personal tragedy and his rage rather than follow standard horror-movie cliches, making the suspense and the horror genuine and harrowing. Do not less this one pass by.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Hour Photo - One highly suspenseful and enjoyable film!, September 21, 2003

By 

K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (Cape Girardeau, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Hour Photo (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Given the backdrop of the local SavMart and the stunning performance of Robin Williams, this film is a deeply scary thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat all the way through; whether it's out of complete fear of what his character will do next or the embarrassment he faces for his actions.

This is most certainly Robin Williams scariest role to date and one in which he's least like himself as he's completely suppressed his comedic nature for the almost clinical persona of Seymour "Sy" Parish. He certainly deserves any and all accolades he earns from this film. Connie Nielsen performs admirably in this film as well.

In his feature film directing debut, Mark Romanek has written and directed a pure psychological thriller masterpiece. From the simple concept of looking at a SavMart like store and coming up with this script, he has shown an amazing talent. This is a director whose films are to be looked out for in the future.

The soundtrack for this film is also quite dead on with every sequence and adds beautifully to the suspenseful nature of the film.

The premise:

Seymour "Sy" Parish (Robin Williams) works at the local SavMart as the photo technician. He's been working there for eleven years and in a large sense he has no life other than his job. During his daily routine at work, he sees everybody's lives, or more succinctly, their more joyful moments, in the pictures they bring in to be developed. Somewhere along the line he has become thoroughly infatuated with one particular family, the Yorkins. Sy even fantasizes about being Uncle Sy in the Yorkin family.

When Sy suddenly suffers a catastrophic event in his life, he essentially flips all the way off of the rocker and what follows from there simply has to be one of the most suspenseful thrillers that this viewer has watched in quite some time.

I highly recommend this film to any and all fans of this genre; it will make an excellent addition to your DVD library and will stand up quite well to multiple viewings. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

- Writer, Director and Actor Commentary
- "Anatomy of a Scene" Sundance Channel Featurette
- "Making of" Featurette
- "The Charlie Rose Show" Interview with Robin Williams and Mark Romanek
- Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance in Ambiguity, February 17, 2003

By 

Darren (Jersey Shore, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Hour Photo (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Don't expect One Hour Photo to be spoon fed. This movie will force you to generate some of your own conclusions about you've witnessed.

Robin Williams gives one of his best performances to date as an appearingly mild mannered yet devious photo clerk who takes his job as a photo tech at the local "Sav-Mart' a bit too serious because it appears to be all he has.

His emotional pathology becomes progressively evident and alarming as he becomes increasingly 'over-involved' with a family that brings in their photos to his store for processing. Although he blatantly oversteps some major boundaries, he does so in such a way that the seriousness of his disturbance is not realized soon enough. Some of his bizarre behaviors lead your thoughts to very dark places while at the same time, the pity his character generates, makes you want to believe that maybe his motivations really aren't that pathological.

Because Williams character evokes such a wide range of emotion, your own feelings towards him vaccilate. He is devious yet likable even amidst his pervading creepiness. Although appearingly generally mild mannered and timid, he has his moments of assertiveness and later, 'over the edge' aggressiveness and righteous indignation.

The cinematography and visual imagery is excellent and brilliantly contrasts the drab, washed out and somewhat color-less life of William's character to that of the vivid and vibrant family he becomes "focused" on.

It's a good psychological thriller. Like a photo snapshot, there's much more to this film than what we see on the surface.