One Hour Photo is a film worth developing

So this is not a very usual title for a movie review, but then again, One Hour Photo is not your usual walk in/walk out cinema experience. The film can be compared to an orchestra, where every single part of the movie fits in masterfully with the others to create a psychologically intense drama that leaves the spectator mesmerized by the finished project.

But big words of praise aside, this modest movie (there are hardly any special effects) hits a chord few other flicks manage to tap. Photo starts out as nothing special. Sy Parrish (a very well-aged Robin Williams) sits in a police detention booth, delivering his story to a detective. Sy is supposed to be the average supermarket photo clerk in a perfect store with a quirk for accurately calibrated photo developing machines; a man who goes to work, leaves and has no private life. This "nobody" takes a liking to the family of one of his best customers, Mrs. Yorkin (Connie Nielsen). The Yorkins develop so many photos of daily activities that they provide Sy with a visual gateway into their world, making him feel especially close to them; if you were Sy, they would be "your kin."

So what do you do if your "family" is being hurt by one of its members and you know about it? Well, if you're Sy, you take action and protect them at all costs. And it is this course of action that Sy takes that makes the movie an act of genius. Though almost a cliched movie device, Sy's plan to let Mrs. Yorkin know that something is wrong in her family is nothing short of stunning. Sy's maniacal plan, when it is all pieced together, surpasses all expectations. With this film, though you think you might have guessed the ending, you really don't know what Sy will do next to get the world to see that something is wrong. And interestingly enough, every shot throughout the movie seems very ordinary. Only the music hints at what may be coming up in the plot, which is executed with serial killer precision.

I would place One Hour Photo in a psychological thriller category because it is one of the few movies that toys with your mind until the very end, wiping away the illusion that you know what's going to happen. Hardly a graphic stunner, Photo can shock the viewer with its unprecedented twists. In a strange way, the low-key cinematography fits in so nicely that the movie becomes an audio and visual masterpiece.

One Hour Photo is truly an orchestra worth seeing. Its cinematographic style parallels an Orwellian 1984-esque plot, except here a very different Big Brother watches over a family through their standard five by seven inch color prints.