One Hour Photo: The Movie, Not the Kiosk

After a feel-good dose of those TBS movie staples, Father of the Bride and While You Were Sleeping, I felt a sudden urge to pay a few bucks and watch something new: a thriller. That's when I stumbled upon One Hour Photo, a movie that I had filed in my memory bank under "Psychological thriller: rent when the time is right." It's not every day that I have the focus (or stomach) to watch what could be a graphic film. But One Hour Photo stars Robin Williams - yes, Mrs. Doubtfire - as the creepy protagonist, and that alone was enough to merit a rental.

Just as in Insomnia, Williams ventures against-type as Sy Parrish - aka "Sy the Photo Guy." Sy works fulltime at the local Sav-Mart, developing photos for customers with a sense of duty rarely visible at most convenience store photo kiosks. How often do you see a photo lab technician throw a public tantrum on account of unbalanced cyan levels?

Williams's slow and deliberate stride, calm delivery, and, not to be overlooked, lemon yellow hair and tan Velcro Easy Spirits, unite to create one hecuva creepy physical presence. Color, or lack thereof, establishes the mood successfully. The sterile Sav-Mart left me longing for Target's bright red décor; equally sterile, Sy's apartment looked every bit the musty bachelor pad. The only punch of color - an obsessive, wall-size photo collage of his most beloved customers, the Yorkin family.

Michael Vartan, better known as the handsome teacher in Never Been Kissed, assumes the role of a distant, cheating husband in this film. (Warning, spoilers ahead.) He conducts an affair with his office mate, unbeknownst to his wife and their child, Jake. Jake and his mother, ever the amateur photographers, frequently visit Sav-Mart and develop a friendly rapport with ol' Sy, but Sy is not content to end the relationship at mere counter-side small talk. He shows up at Jake's soccer games and mysteriously bumps in to Mrs. Yorkin at the mall. Sy considers himself an extension of the Yorkin family. Sy's peculiar behavior - his outbursts, lingering conversations with the Yorkins, and documented hording of Sav-Mart photo supplies - leads the manager to fire him.

Something has to drive Sy over the edge, though, and that "something" comes in the form of incriminating photographs of Mr. Yorkin and his mistress. When Sy makes the discovery, he finally unleashes the rage behind his expressionless stare. I'll leave it at that.

The conclusion is oddly anti-climatic. For all of the planning, police presence, and ominous background music, I was expecting something a little more stomach-churning. But then I remembered that this is, indeed, a psychological thriller. Williams is convincing as the disturbing loner, Sy. And his defense when the police arrest him? "I just took pictures." With that phrase, Director Mark Romanek brings full circle the unsettling issue at the core of One Hour Photo: the responsibility and temptations inherent in handling a voyeuristic medium