[9/5/2002 9:16:28 AM | Andy Kovacs]
"To err is human; to blame it on somebody else is even more human."
- John Nadeau


[9/5/2002 10:47:55 PM | Andy Kovacs]
One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo stars Robin Williams as you've never seen him before. Williams plays Seymore Parrish, a one-hour photo developer who takes a very particular pride in his work and an unhealthy interest in his customers.

Robin Williams has always been a great actor. From his debut on Happy Days as the alien named Mork to his tear-jerking farewell - Oh Captain! My Captain! - in Dead Poets Society; from Popeye to Peter Banning/Peter Pan in Hook and Walter Finch in Insomnia, he has always been one of my all-time favorites. He's an actor who is as good in a comedic role as he is in a dramatic role. Not too many actors can pull both off as convincingly as Williams.

I had heard of One Hour Photo a long time ago. I had heard that Robin Williams gets to play a villainous role. I remember how that had piqued my interest. I remember wondering if it would make me look at him in a different way, much in the same way that What Lies Beneath had changed my view of Harrison Ford and the roles that he is capable of playing.

I must admit, though, that I did see Insomnia earlier this summer and Robin Williams also plays the heavy, so I knew that he could play a bad guy, I just never knew how bad of a bad guy he could play.

Sy Parrish is a desperate loner. You've got to wonder how he came to be this way. At one point in the movie he buys an old wallet-sized black and white photo from ages ago and claims later that it is his "mother." I actually came to pity him a bit.

I don't want to give away too much, but I thought that the movie was done very well. One of the strengths of the movie, aside from Williams' performance, was the cinematography. This makes sense since it's a movie about someone whose life's work is developing pictures. Aesthetically the movie is wonderful. However, my one and only complaint is that the script doesn't really flesh out who Sy Parrish is. We know that he is a loner. We know that he takes great pride in his job; a job that most of us would not take seriously, and one that hardly any of us, consciously or unconsciously, respect. We know that he has been stalking this family for a long time. We also know that he cares deeply for them.

What we don't know is where he came from and why he lives as he does. I would have apreciated a little bit more of a background on this character that I'd been charged with watching, empathizing, abhorring, and sympathizing with for an hour and a half. I think that some information would have gotten me more emotionally involved with the character of Sy. And it's the lack of a background on Sy that is the only reason that I am giving this movie ***1/2 stars out of 4.

-andy


[9/5/2002 10:56:01 PM | Andy Kovacs]
Top 5 Sinatra Songs
1) Summer Wind
2) Strangers in the Night
3) My Way
4) Luck Be a Lady
5) Witchcraft
tied with My Kind of Town


[9/5/2002 10:32:28 PM | Andy Kovacs]
I had a good laugh at work today. One of my coworkers was walking towards me and asked,

"Did you pass Connie?" To which I responded,
"No, I'm still trying to digest her."

I don't think my coworker got the joke.