Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: One Hour Photo

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Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 08-26-2002, 05:42 PM:

This movie was pretty good. I'm not the biggest Robin Williams fan in the world. I think that most of his attempts at drama are funnier than his attempts at humor. But he gives a solid performance in this picture. Not as good as he was in INSOMNIA, but still good.

The story isn't much. It's one of those movies with a big revelation that you'd just assumed you were supposed to pick up on an hour earlier.

What's most interesting about this film is the look. I am shocked at how reserved the visuals are. This is Mark Romanek's first movie. It's rare that a music video director, especially one like Romanek, would take such a conservative approach to the photography of his first picture. This is not to say that it's not well thought out. It's extremely well thought out. It's just very subtle. I'm not sure whether I like that or not. But it's intriguing nonetheless.

Posted by Alex Grasic (Member # 1371) on 08-30-2002, 03:34 AM:

I think Robin Williams' performance in One Hour Photo is much more dramatic than Insomnia. He pulls off the 'psycho' appeal quite well. His face just screams 'disturbed' at you. I just finished a screening now and I'm just a bit lost about the ending nonetheless, it was an excellent picture!!

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 08-31-2002, 10:24 PM:

I saw One Hour Photo at the Kew Gardens Cinemas in NYC, an attractive triple showing quality domestic and foreign films. This well-run theatre has helped upgrade the neighborhood, and is now surrounded by pubs and foreign restaurants where there were once empty storefronts.

Like Blowup and Rear Window, the film uses photography as a reflection of reality and a means of disguising truth. And like them,it develops a mystery, possible criminal behavior, and some uncertainty as to what is real.

The exposition, with some voice-overs, might be an infomercial for Kodak's Snapshots Done Right, or America's love affair with picture taking and fast photo-finishing.

Robin Williams' character dominates the film and reminded me of The Pawnbroker, less dramatic, but with pathos. His character develops from that of a photo perfectionist with great pride in his work to a man losing sanity because of loneliness and his obsessions. An extreme case of living vicariously through the glimpses into other lives provided by photographs.

The minimalist photography, with striking transitions and dream /fantasy sequences, gave the film a decided "cinematic" style,
but the plot line wasn't always logical, and the director was not above playing tricks on the audience at the end.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-14-2002, 09:18 PM:

09/14/2002, 5:00PM, Bijou Arts Cinemas, Eugene OR, #1, Dolby Optical Stereo. Attendance about 75. I haven't been to the Bijou for several years. The Bijou is a converted mortuary & chapel, and theater #1 is like a church sanctuary, with very high "cathedral" ceiling, plaster walls, and blacked out windows. Thus the acoustics are very live and "echoey", which can make dialog hard to understand sometimes, especially British films with thick accents. Their optical sound system is actually pretty good though -- clean and full-range (sounds better-maintained than the optical sound systems in some digital theaters). Image quality was OK, though not bright enough, and illumination was not uniform (hot in the center). Screen is a 2:1 with no movable masking, so the sides of the 1.85 image are ragged, but at least the aspect ratio was correct. Image was sharp but slightly jumpy. Several nasty lab splices, and reel 4 had wavy line syndrome.

Robin Williams gives an excellent performance as a somewhat demented loner whose life is lived vicariously through the pictures he develops for customers of "Savmart". Very creepy (off-topic, but does anyone besides me find the whole WalMart concept & execution to be creepy? I refuse to shop there.). I liked the cinematography -- it really sets the mood and things just don't feel quite right. This may not be a great film, but it's a good one, and Williams' performance really works.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 09-23-2002, 01:07 PM:

Saw the film. Jordan Commons, Sandy Ut. 09/22/02, 7:55 pm. About 100 people in attendance on a sunday night. Sound was awful, it was analogue, the print was horrifyingly dirty.

The real bad part was when a family came in, with three children that were ages 5 to 8. If you have seen this movie, you know how bad this would be for them.

I loved the movie, and unfortunately I have to give SPOILERS to say why.

SPOILER ALERT.

You have been warned.

The reason for the cinematic choice of less is more, is in the story itself. It is stated in the film that people often miss the little things, and more often than not take pictures only of what they call the big and important stuff. This is why there was a minimalistic approach to this picture. To make the point that flashy camera work does not necessarily make a great picture.

This also goes to the ending. He had the two getting into those poses while he took pictures of... the little things, like the shower curtain, or the tv remote. His obsession was with family, life, and honor. He broke when his fantasy family was broken. After he did what he did, his fantasy was once again secure, and so was he.

Robin Williams played this role masterfully. His portrayal of a very lonely man, who has no familial connections, found his niche by viewing other peoples families, and giving them his personal gift of perfect pictures. When he loses that ability to do so, and discovers that the perfect family that he dreams of becoming part of is in peril, he acts, teaching a valuable lesson: WATCH WHERE YOU SWING YOUR WILLIE!!!

While the director seemed to be playing tricks with us, he really was setting the tone for Sye's own feelings of self worthlessness, and wishing for the pain to end. By watching this film, I did feel that the family was in peril, but in retrospect, I find that he really did not have it in him to do harm, and his intent was never to do harm, but rather to secure the family unit. All he wanted was to get this family working together. It was his fantasy to be part of it, he daydreamed about it all the time. To have it broken because of indiscrection tore him apart. To fix the problem, was all he wanted.

I never felt creeped out by his character, never felt he was disturbed, just very very lonely, and somewhat unable to properly socialize.

There was a great social comment made when the father tells his son in the walmart (savmart, whatever) not to talk to strangers. That is a great comment on how we now as a society shut ourselves in and keep all others out. It was always common practice to make friends with just about anyone. Fifty years ago, Sye would have been a family friend, not just the photo tech guy. But now, with all the fear in the world, he is a stranger, plain and simple.

Makes you wonder how many people are left behind when all we ever do is hang in our little cliques and never really explore the possibility that the photo tech guy may just be some harmless guy who needs a friend. Or a dog.

Well I put this on my all time list of favorite films. It is definately a movie that should be used in Psychology classes as classic examples of societal alienation and its potential effects.

Dave

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 09-26-2002, 05:30 PM:

Dave,
Thanks for your insightful comments above. Aparently even with poor sound and a dirty print, you were able to provide a us with a fine interpretation of the film's character and relate the maker's themes to contemporary life. I appreciate your review.
Gerard

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 09-27-2002, 01:29 PM:

Attendance: 2002/09/27 19:05, Regal Madison Square 12, Huntsville, AL, Auditorium 2, Flat

Since this movie came to Madison Square 12, I'd been wanting to see it. There have already been excellent comments made about this movie so far in this thread, so I need not say much, but I did enjoy the movie. It's refreshing to see something a bit out of the ordinary.

There is one scene I wish had not been placed into the movie. The entire feeling of the movie was "something isn't right" but the movie never struck me as being of the true "terror" variety. However, the scene where we see Sy in the long empty aisle (with bare shelves) where he opens his eyes and they're bloody, and blood came gushing, just didn't fit. When I saw that, I thought the rest of the movie was going to take that kind of turn, which it didn't. The movie would have lost nothing if that had been omitted.

However, this was a much more interesting movie than most, and I highly recommend it.

------------------
Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 09-28-2002, 03:19 AM:

I agree with you Evans on that point. I think that what the director was trying to do was show the emphatic desparation and level of personal pain Sye was feeling, but it was a bit drastic for a film that didn't actually reach that level of violence.

However, I frequently have daydreams like that, but only about everyone else. It is common with people who have a lot of internal pain that is never expressed.

With the exploding and bloody eyes, I beleive what we are witnessing is the wish of sye to lose his ability to see, as what he has seen has caused him great pain.

But once again, it was so drastic, that even I was squirming. I was sure that he was going to cut that guys eyes out.

Dave

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-23-2003, 02:47 PM:

Definately the whitest movie I've ever seen! It was one that Hitchcock would have had a good time making and the suspense would have been far greater. But RW did a really good job with a pretty lame script and he's proving that he's a very capable dramatic actor.

This film should ahve been a real seller for Film Guard!
MArk