Review: In the many years that I have been watching movies one actor that I have for the most part liked his
films was Robin Williams. All I ever knew him as was a comedic personality that always had a goofy and childish side to him in films like "Popeye" or "Hook". Now when I heard of the film he was starring in called "One Hour Photo" back in 2002 I was expecting something maybe a little more serious with possibly some humor. What I got was something very dark and on some levels disturbing, but in a good way. On with the autopsy!
Robin Williams plays what I see as his best role to date, he takes himself into a very dark place that is and was refreshing to see. The film follows a lonely and aging photo developing clerk by the name of Sy who seems to be an outcast of sorts. He lives a bland life with nothing really going on and seems to have an odd obsession with a particular family. As things start to crumble in his life things also start to take a dark decent into obsession that will leave you on the edge of your seat. I like to see this film as one of the darker films that I had seen during this time and quite possibly one of the best of the early 2000's. Yes this film does go into dark territory, but at the same time it has this narration from time to time of Sy talking about things going on around him and also shows these day dreams he is having. There is one day dream for example that he has where he goes into the families house when they are gone and does stuff that would make anyone feel violated, but twists into something different.
One Hour Photo is definitely an odd film in ways, but works quite well as being off beat. One good thing is that the director who has mainly done music videos before does not make this film look or pace like a music video with lots of cuts. The cinematography is fantastic and having a great cast with that makes this film so great. The cast is kinda small which is fine because you get to know the characters involved that much more. Like you would probably expect Robin Williams is the main highlight of the film and he does control the scene everytime he is on camera. I like how they didn't make the dynamic of the family to be perfect and flawless, instead they seem to be breaking apart slowly.
Now when it comes to the what I meant when I said this film was dark and disturbing I am referring to when they reveal a secret that Sy has in his apartment. Now I am not going to reveal what it is because I think it's something you should see when it happens. Also just his thoughts and his creepy obsession just helps to make the tone of the film so dark. The pacing can be slow at times and leads to a great payoff in the end and makes the ending that much more powerful. I really can't find anything I didn't like about this film. Even after 11 years I still find it enjoyable and re-watchable and I think it still holds up quite well.
Overall this is a fantastic film and like I stated before it has what I see as Robin Williams best performance. The video quality is superb and has been well taken care of over the years as well for this release. The colors are vivd and the detail is great. When it comes to the audio it sounds great on both surround sound as well as your TV speakers. Along with the great presentation you also get a damn good amount of special features that I can't remember if they were on the older DVD release. There is a commentary with the director and a good amount of featurettes to please any fan of this film.
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Mark Romanek
Genre: Suspense/Drama
Blu-ray Release Year: 2013
Home Video Release Year: 2002
Time Length: 96 mins.
Company: 20th Century Fox
Website:
www.foxconnect.com
Review: In the many years that I have been watching movies one actor that I have for the most part liked his 
