One Hour Photo (Mark Romanek, 2002)

Sy the Photo Guy is lonely and out of touch with the rest of the world. He is great at developing film, but he also has a creepy collage on his living room wall of all his customers' most precious private moments. Wherever Sy goes, he blends in. If you merely glanced, you might not even see him. This is due to the effective costume design.

Sy is a quiet fellow with a storm of emotion waiting to be unleashed inside of him. His quiet nature is contrasted by an eerie score as Sly tiptoes through the world he does not understand. The subtext is provocative and stirs thoughts once the picture is over. However, the ambiguity is overdone toward the conclusion, which may be an understandable sign of inexperience by first time director Mark Romanek.

Aside from Sy, the characters leave much to be desired. There is the troubled housewife, the thoughtful son and the unfaithful neglectful father. Despite how Sy richly imagines the lives of the people in the photographs, they are merely faces on pictures. Adding to the weak supporting characters is a short story (96 minutes) that has little going on and would become even less interesting upon a second viewing. Sy is merely a sad soul that can easily turn dangerous, despite a memorable performance by a very subdued Robin Williams.