MickeyMoose15
09-14-2002, 05:41 PM
Fox Searchlight's 'One Hour Photo'
Released August 21st, 2002
Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Varta , Gary Cole, Erin Daniels, Eriq La Salle, Carmen Mormino, Andrew A. Rolfes
Director: Mark Romanek
Premise: A young suburban family (Nielsen plays the mother; Vartan, the father) finds themselves the objects of obsession of an employee (Williams) at their local one-hour photo lab after they drop some family photo's off there...
The end of the summer offered so many choices that just didn't appeal to the movie going public. Among those were the lackluster comedies Serving Sara and S1m0ne. Even films like Feardot.com tried to tap into the fear of audiences but just never really "linked" up. Now these are moderately budgeted films with somewhat big name stars. Now it has to hit Hollywood hard that these films that look to be moderate winners are either big failures or small successes. It hurts even more knowing that they have been beaten by films that have miniature budgets and have no or limited stars. Among these is the film that critics have been raving about since the Sundance Film Festival. Robin Williams goes from his happy go-lucky characters to something way off the charts. This is the year for Williams to transition himself from comedian to Oscar-winning dramatic actor. And with no other big stars in the film, he is the main draw outside of the buzz for the film. Does Williams creepy performance deliver the goods to the audience or is the film underdeveloped?
The story is that Seymour Parrish is the photo manager at the local Savmart, working there almost every day for the past eleven years. In those long years, a certain family continues to come back to the Savmart and dropping off their family photos to be developed by Sy. In those years, he has become very attached to them and has "adopted" himself into their lives. He has become a sort of "uncle" to young Jack Yorkin who lives a so-called happy life with his mother and workaholic father, Will. He soon becomes very obsessed with them, so much so that he follows the mother, Nina, around and pretends to bump into her at the mall or even buying presents for young Jack. But once Sy is fired by Savmart for wasting prints by coping the Yorkin family pictures for himself, he begins to take matters into his own hands especially when he discovers the dark secret of Will Yorkin. The story sticks well to the point of following the destructive path of Sy the Photo Guy. The story does veer off course from time to time with dream sequences and such but it tends to come back on track in very quick time. There are many moments that keep the audience on the edge of the seat and surprises them as not to bore them for a hour and a half.
The characters in 'One Hour Photo' offer a outside view of what a normal family looks like and then revealing that nothing is as it seems. Robin Williams offers his best and most fearful performance of his career. He fits perfectly into the role of Sy the Photo Guy complete with loose glasses, white shirt and creepy smile that he offers his customers. Not only does he deliver an Oscar contending performance but also presents a stirring narrative over portions of the presentation. Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan are great as Nina and Will Yorkin. They deliver brilliant performances without drawing outside attention from the real story of Sy Parrish. The only real problem was Gary Cole who plays Jack Yorkin. His character came off as too cute and as his film mother put it too "sensitive". But he does offer a better performance then the normal child actors.
Overall, 'One Hour Photo' delivers more positives then negatives by the end of the feature. The big highlight of the film is definitely Robin Williams' brilliant and creepy performance as the photo clerk of Savmart. This will be the big draw for the film and that is surely what Fox Searchlight is counting on. The story does very well but does tend to throw things at the audience that just freak the audience out rather then intrigue them especially one dream sequence involving Sy. The acting performance of Gary Cole began to get on nerves for portions of the film but luckily he was limitedly seen near the end of the feature-length presentation. Other then those small quarrels, 'One Hour Photo' delivers what it was meant to and that was of a dark dramatic look at the so-called "picture-perfect" life of the modern family. If Hollywood hasn't gotten the hint from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' then they should definitely get it from 'One Hour Photo' and the message is this: Good performances and better stories mean more then big name stars and loud special effects. Hopefully they will listen this time around.
My Rating: **** out of 5
Released August 21st, 2002
Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Varta , Gary Cole, Erin Daniels, Eriq La Salle, Carmen Mormino, Andrew A. Rolfes
Director: Mark Romanek
Premise: A young suburban family (Nielsen plays the mother; Vartan, the father) finds themselves the objects of obsession of an employee (Williams) at their local one-hour photo lab after they drop some family photo's off there...
The end of the summer offered so many choices that just didn't appeal to the movie going public. Among those were the lackluster comedies Serving Sara and S1m0ne. Even films like Feardot.com tried to tap into the fear of audiences but just never really "linked" up. Now these are moderately budgeted films with somewhat big name stars. Now it has to hit Hollywood hard that these films that look to be moderate winners are either big failures or small successes. It hurts even more knowing that they have been beaten by films that have miniature budgets and have no or limited stars. Among these is the film that critics have been raving about since the Sundance Film Festival. Robin Williams goes from his happy go-lucky characters to something way off the charts. This is the year for Williams to transition himself from comedian to Oscar-winning dramatic actor. And with no other big stars in the film, he is the main draw outside of the buzz for the film. Does Williams creepy performance deliver the goods to the audience or is the film underdeveloped?
The story is that Seymour Parrish is the photo manager at the local Savmart, working there almost every day for the past eleven years. In those long years, a certain family continues to come back to the Savmart and dropping off their family photos to be developed by Sy. In those years, he has become very attached to them and has "adopted" himself into their lives. He has become a sort of "uncle" to young Jack Yorkin who lives a so-called happy life with his mother and workaholic father, Will. He soon becomes very obsessed with them, so much so that he follows the mother, Nina, around and pretends to bump into her at the mall or even buying presents for young Jack. But once Sy is fired by Savmart for wasting prints by coping the Yorkin family pictures for himself, he begins to take matters into his own hands especially when he discovers the dark secret of Will Yorkin. The story sticks well to the point of following the destructive path of Sy the Photo Guy. The story does veer off course from time to time with dream sequences and such but it tends to come back on track in very quick time. There are many moments that keep the audience on the edge of the seat and surprises them as not to bore them for a hour and a half.
The characters in 'One Hour Photo' offer a outside view of what a normal family looks like and then revealing that nothing is as it seems. Robin Williams offers his best and most fearful performance of his career. He fits perfectly into the role of Sy the Photo Guy complete with loose glasses, white shirt and creepy smile that he offers his customers. Not only does he deliver an Oscar contending performance but also presents a stirring narrative over portions of the presentation. Connie Nielsen and Michael Vartan are great as Nina and Will Yorkin. They deliver brilliant performances without drawing outside attention from the real story of Sy Parrish. The only real problem was Gary Cole who plays Jack Yorkin. His character came off as too cute and as his film mother put it too "sensitive". But he does offer a better performance then the normal child actors.
Overall, 'One Hour Photo' delivers more positives then negatives by the end of the feature. The big highlight of the film is definitely Robin Williams' brilliant and creepy performance as the photo clerk of Savmart. This will be the big draw for the film and that is surely what Fox Searchlight is counting on. The story does very well but does tend to throw things at the audience that just freak the audience out rather then intrigue them especially one dream sequence involving Sy. The acting performance of Gary Cole began to get on nerves for portions of the film but luckily he was limitedly seen near the end of the feature-length presentation. Other then those small quarrels, 'One Hour Photo' delivers what it was meant to and that was of a dark dramatic look at the so-called "picture-perfect" life of the modern family. If Hollywood hasn't gotten the hint from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' then they should definitely get it from 'One Hour Photo' and the message is this: Good performances and better stories mean more then big name stars and loud special effects. Hopefully they will listen this time around.
My Rating: **** out of 5