Robin Williams Tribute Month: One Hour Photo (2002)

One of Robin Williams' most defining characteristics was his versatility as an actor. The is most true of his role as a psychopathic film development clerk in Mark Romanek's One Hour Photo, which is about as far removed from any of his other films as is possible.

Seymour "Sy" Parrish (Robin Williams) works as a photo technician at SavMart, developing peoples celluloids into colourful photos with perfect precision. His life outside the department store is a lonely reality; spending his evenings watching television and tending to his pet hamster, his existence away from his work is of little value to him.

Over the years, Sy has befriended the Yorkin Family who are constantly having photos developed. He has followed the lives of Will (Michael Vartan), his wife Nina (Connie Nielsen) and their son Jake (Dylan Smith), whom Sy has seen develop since he was just a baby. Though beneath his cheery, shy exterior, lurks a darker side to Sy.

This is possibly the most definitive psychological thriller I've ever seen, with Romanek channelling a very Kubrickian approach to film making, both visually and in the plot (Romanek also wrote the screenplay). It's effectiveness for me, lies in the believability of the situation. We've all gone through bouts of loneliness, and seen how these can effect us. Too many modern thrillers rely on characters that are so psychologically unstable that we cannot relate to them in any way, however with Sy it's different. There's both an understanding and a reluctance from the audience to believe the paths he chooses to take, which make him one of the most memorable psychopaths in film, up there with Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) and Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver). Much of this is down to Williams' superb performance.

Sy is likely the most subdued of all of Robin Williams' characters, toning down his extreme energy to a level where he's often just expressionless on the screen. However it's this vague neutral expression that is the most chilling characteristic about Sy. Like all good performances, the devil is in the details, and all of Williams articulations and little nuances serve to build up both a chilling portrayal of an isolated individual, as well as one of the most powerful of all Williams' dramatic roles. 

Special mention should be made about the cinematography of this film, done by DP Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, The Social Network). As noted before, there are many similarities between One Hour Photo and some of Kubrick's work, with some of the more powerful sequences relying on static and tracking one-point perspective shots. You can tell that it stylistically plays on the photographic themes brought up in the plot, making it truly worthy of that awful hipster phrase '#meta'.

I think this is a film that you have to see a few times to fully appreciate, but even first-time viewers can appreciate both its unique visual look and another great Robin Williams performance.