One Hour Photo
One Hour Photo, directed by Mark Romanek, is a movie that really shows you how creepy the human race can be and how we can only be scared of ourselves. Robin Williams plays a role in this movie that isn’t like his other roles, it is the complete opposite of his regular funny man roles. In the movie, he plays a One Hour Photo technician named Sy Parrish that is the greatest and creepiest person in the whole place. Sy becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family after developing their photos for over 10 years. Sy gets frustrated with the idea of being an outside family member and tries to insert himself more into the family.
The theme of loneliness comes to play with two of the characters in the movie. Sy has no friends, no family, and no life. He only has the job at the One Hour Photo. Another character is Nina Yorkin, played by Connie Nielsen, who is the mother and the wife. During the movie, she slowly comes to terms with the fact that there is something missing in the relationship between her and her husband. The husband Will Yorkin, played by Michael Vartan, neglects his wife and his son. The theme of loneliness comes to play with two of the characters in the movie. Sy has no friends, no family, and no life. He only has the job at the One Hour Photo. Another character is Nina Yorkin, played by Connie Nielsen, who is the mother and the wife.
The theme of loneliness comes to play with two of the characters in the movie. Sy has no friends, no family, and no life. He only has the job at the One Hour Photo. Another character is Nina Yorkin, played by Connie Nielsen, who is the mother and the wife. During the movie, she slowly comes to terms with the fact that there is something missing in the relationship between her and her husband. The husband Will Yorkin, played by Michael Vartan, neglects his wife and his son. The theme of loneliness comes to play with two of the characters in the movie. Sy has no friends, no family, and no life. He only has the job at the One Hour Photo. Another character is Nina Yorkin, played by Connie Nielsen, who is the mother and the wife.
During the movie, she slowly comes to terms with the fact that there is something missing in the relationship between her and her husband. The husband Will Yorkin, played by Michael Vartan, neglects his wife and his son. There is no love between the married couple and no affection directed to the son. This theme is communicated to the audience by the colors that are always around Sy, or you could say the lack of color. Bright colors could mean there is joy in a person’s life, but there was no color in Sy’s life. He wore white shirts and khakis while other all different colors. The Photofinishing area where he works appears to be dislocated from the rest of the SavMart. It seems as though the walk from the rest of the store to the Photofinishing is miles long. The distance is a great representation of how Sy is dislocated from the world around him, the only world that he is involved in is the one he can look at through the people’s photos he develops. At one point of the movie, Sy goes out to what seems to be a flea market and goes to the antique photos, he picks up a photo of a lady and buys it. Later on, it is revealed that he bought the photo to make it seem like it was his mother - to make it seem like he even knew or had a mother. Sy is the loneliest person. He wants that companionship from somebody else and it seems like it doesn’t even have to be in a sexual way but just for him to have a family.
Robin Williams’ acting in the movie is amazing. I thought his acting wouldn’t be believable eeing as though he usually plays the comedian in the movie. Sy is a very creepy, lonely man and Williams portrays that correctly. With the costume and makeup to go along with his acting, he was terrific. Nothing about his acting said funny man. There is a point in the movie where Sy figures out that Will Yorkin is cheating on his wife Nina. Sy goes after this and tries to get it to stop. By the progression of the movie, you would feel as though he was going to kill them, but it is the complete opposite. The director, Mark Romanek, does a great job with this movie. He keeps the watcher on their toes and does the unexpected.
Watching the film, I thought of Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, where one of the main characters, Ricky, uses his camera to film the things that he feels are ‘beautiful’ in the world. Sy works at a One Hour Photo in the local SavMart where he edits photos. He believes that photos capture a ‘pause in time’ where the people literally pause time. Sy becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family and instead of printing the correct of amount of photos sets of their films - he prints a set for himself as well. Also, Sy can be compared to the Lester in the movie American Beauty. He also feels loneliness with his family and lust after a friend of his teenage daughter’s. Sy is lusting after the family and to feel a part of it, to have a connection. In both movies, the men have the same sort of clothing - the white, grey, and khakis everyday special. Also, the men show a slumped kind of walk throughout the two movies. Sy has no family and real friends, just like Lester who has no real friends and a family that walks all over him. Both of these men are searching for their own version of the American Dream, they want to feel accepted by someone and loved.
By Dakota Foster
Watching the film, I thought of Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, where one of the main characters, Ricky, uses his camera to film the things that he feels are ‘beautiful’ in the world. Sy works at a One Hour Photo in the local SavMart where he edits photos. He believes that photos capture a ‘pause in time’ where the people literally pause time. Sy becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family and instead of printing the correct of amount of photos sets of their films - he prints a set for himself as well. Also, Sy can be compared to the Lester in the movie American Beauty. He also feels loneliness with his family and lust after a friend of his teenage daughter’s. Sy is lusting after the family and to feel a part of it, to have a connection. In both movies, the men have the same sort of clothing - the white, grey, and khakis everyday special. Also, the men show a slumped kind of walk throughout the two movies. Sy has no family and real friends, just like Lester who has no real friends and a family that walks all over him. Both of these men are searching for their own version of the American Dream, they want to feel accepted by someone and loved.
By Dakota Foster
Citations
"One Hour Photo." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/?ref_=nv_sr_2>.
"One Hour Photo Screenshots." Neoseeker. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.neoseeker.com/Movies/Products/one_hour_photo/screens.html>.
"One Hour Photo Pictures (Movie) - Zap2it." One Hour Photo Pictures (Movie) - Zap2it. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://movies.zap2it.com/movies/one-hour-photo/photo-gallery/29820/1?aid=zap2it>.
"One Hour Photo." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/?ref_=nv_sr_2>.
"One Hour Photo Screenshots." Neoseeker. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.neoseeker.com/Movies/Products/one_hour_photo/screens.html>.
"One Hour Photo Pictures (Movie) - Zap2it." One Hour Photo Pictures (Movie) - Zap2it. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://movies.zap2it.com/movies/one-hour-photo/photo-gallery/29820/1?aid=zap2it>.