A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Blistering performances.

In this film, Robin Williams gave life to Sy, an employee of a big store that works in the department of revelation of photographs. He is apparently competent and a good worker, but the truth is that he hides a fascination for a family he usually attend, the Yorkin's. When he realizes that the unity and joy of that family is in danger, he decides to act and protect the family.The film is not easy to digest. To begin with, the pace is slow, in order to construct the characters and plot in a more appropriate and perceptible way. Then you have the problem of the main character being dysfunctional and hard to like. Initially, he acts like a maniac, with an obsession with that family, to which he seems to wish to belong. We don't know if it's envy, if it's worship, if it's a mania. Even so, there is something rational about how he behaves, as we have seen in the explanations he gives to the police in the end. Another problem, especially for the more commercial audience, is the intellectual touches the film takes on regularly, in monologues or in discreet detail that many people may find boring or expendable. I confess, I enjoyed it.Little can be said about Williams' performance. He is brilliant. I never thought to see this actor, so attached to comedy and humorous characters, to give life to a character so dense and complex, with touches of villain, stalker and avenger punctuated with the sweetness of a lonely, needy and unhappy man. The remaining cast was also fine, but does not stand out and leaves room for Williams to shine as he deserves.Technically, this is a competent, but discreet film. Good cinematography, good light and color, good camera angles, and a discreet, yet capable, soundtrack. I would highlight the monologues, where the film shows some art.

I remember enjoying this movie when it first came out fifteen years ago, mainly because Connie Nielsen was so sensationally sexy and because it was fun to see smarmy Robin Williams take a turn as a crazed stalker. But when I bought the DVD from Amazon the other day for about two dollars, I was disappointed by a lot of flaws I didn't notice in the theater.The visuals in this movie are really irritating. Every single store, home, and interior looks like it's a vacuum, a space station laboratory under bright lights where not even a microbe could survive. Is this supposed to mean something? To me it meant the whole story was fake.It really irritated me that, as other reviewers have pointed out, all the photos are perfectly staged and arranged even though the tiny family clearly wouldn't have time to take them and then happily jump into the picture. It was even more aggravating when the young husband was cheating on the sly. Why on earth would anyone cheat on Connie Nielsen? And why would this boring, nothing guy and his secret girl (a scrumptious Erin Daniels, completely wasted in a thankless part) have dozens and dozens of photos documenting every kiss? Robin Williams plays a guy who is timid, shy, and not at all hip to the street. But all of a sudden he's like J.J. Gittes in CHINATOWN, a sleuth who can trail the bad guys all over town and surprise them wherever they try to hide! Also, how did a pitiful clown in a box store earn enough money for that huge apartment with expensive lighting? But the real flaw in this movie is the hidden subtext, the prudery and the sexual repression. Ultimately, Sy the Photo Guy is a surrogate for the Catholic Church, legislating sexual desire while boiling over with uncontrollable appetites himself. The way he takes vengeance at the end reflects not so much a horror at immorality as a disgust with the human body itself. The writer/director is from Chicago, and evidently he's some kind of blue-collar ethnic Catholic with a primitive horror of adult sexuality. This movie really has more in common with STUDS LONIGAN than CHINATOWN. And I don't mean that as a compliment!

a film about vulnerability, care, justice and need of affection. simple, honest almost to be cruel, fascinating because it presents the truth who you desire to ignore. and one of special films who ignore the classic border between good and evil. and assume the risk to explore in profound manner the cases of solitude in the period of globalization. under the pressure of news about terrorism, psychopaths, crimes, thieves, corruption or accidents, this film has the precious gift to explain and not to present, describe, impose verdicts, opinions and fake solutions. a man looking to protect a family. this is the entire story. not useful for empathy or for psychological analysis. only a fragment from every day reality. and the choice of Robin Williams as Seymour Parrish is more than inspired. because he remains the same kind poor man , easy to ignore, discovered too late. so, a picture. a picture of us.

Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) works in a photo finishing lab at Savmart. He has been an employee there for 11 years and knows many of his regular customers perhaps better than they know themselves. However, Sy becomes really obsessed with one family (The Yorkins) and has kept several of their photos from over the years at his house. Sy's obsession is fairly harmless at first, but his behaviour becomes more erratic after he is sacked from Savmart and after he discovers that Will Yorkin is having an affair with another woman.One Hour Photo is, much like the development of photographs, a rather slow process. It essentially introduces us to Parrish and slowly starts to establish his psychological mind- set. Parrish is a lonely person, a man who longs for family and friends which I feel is something that he believes many people take for granted (which is what part of the film is about). Parrish's job is perhaps the only thing that's keeping him going as I think that getting brief insights into people's lives is a way of taking his mind off his own lonely existence. This becomes evident when Parrish gets sacked which is ultimately what brings his darker side to the surface.Robin Williams is better known for his comedy roles, but it's worth noting that he is also very good in dramatic roles - he plays a creepy character in Christopher Nolan's Insomnia and is excellent in both films. Williams gives an edginess to his character that makes him fascinating to watch even when the pace lags a bit in the first half. This isn't the first time he's taken on a complex character and his versatility as an actor is something that he'll long be remembered for. The supporting cast were all OK, but it's definitely Robin Williams who makes this memorable.I'm sure that many people have come to their own conclusions on what was actually going on in this film; was it all fantasy? Was some of it real and some of it fantasy? I think it's safe to assume that at least some of it must have been in Parrish's head as it's revealed on at least one occasion that what we're seeing isn't actually real.No matter how you look at this film there's no denying that it is an interesting and somewhat disturbing look on the way loneliness can affect individuals in extreme cases. The picture has a simmering slow-burning tension to it and when Parrish catches up with the adulterous couple towards the end it's actually quite a chilling sight. Fans of psychological thrillers or character studies will almost certainly enjoy this film.