Coming so soon after his startlingly effective performance in Insomnia, Robin Williams makes a successful return to the dark side for the gripping but uneven One Hour Photo. The actor plays Seymour Parrish, the manager of a one-hour-photo in a huge mall. A deeply unsettled and unstable individual, Parrish's job allows him to peek into other peoples' lives. One apparently perfect little suburban family, the Yorkins - headed by Nina (Nielson) and Will (Vartan) - intrigue Parrish greatly and he begins to obsess about them, attempting to force himself into their lives.
Mark Romanek directed several of Nine Inch Nails' stunning videos back in the mid 1990s and he employs a similar sense of style here. Visually, he's an immensely talented filmmaker, employing colours to suggest mood and creating a slow burning atmosphere of dread through those colours, focus and camera angles. Ultimately, however, One Hour Photo falls a little short because the only character that the director cares about is that of Parrish - the others are completely inconsequential, barely registering on the emotional Richter scale. At the end of it, you may feel a little disappointed that One Hour Photo got so close to being an extraordinary piece of work and failed, but you shouldn't feel cheated.
