| Movie Review of �One Hour Photo� Now, I consider myself quite a lover of photography. I�m hopeless at appreciating paintings and other great works of art of that medium. Put me in a museum of abstract art and I could probably fall asleep standing up. But, photography, ah. I could spend hours wading through black-and-white photos. When I was in Germany (Hamburg, to be exact), I chanced upon an exhibition showcasing the work of Jann Arthus-Bertrand, who took aerial photography of many different and exotic places on Earth. I spent nearly two hours looking at his exhibition, which was an open-air one, right in the middle of a sticky German summer. And I was neither tired nor bored, but supremely inspired. Anyway, enough about me, because we have a movie to review. But if I could make another point about myself, it�s that I like to click the shutter, but I rarely like to be in my own photos. I rarely like to be in photos at all, for that matter. Because photos always allow part of you (the physical, superficial part) to be preserved for eternity, and then someday you�ll look back and be completely and utterly depressed that you no longer look that young, or that you smiled so easily back then, or that your haircut is currently as hip as, say, Hootie and the Blowfish. If you�re reading this and have no idea who or what Hootie and the Blowfish is, then I suggest you take a trip down to the record store, and find out what one of the biggest-selling albums of the early 1990s was. It was called �Cracked Rear View�, and millions bought it, much to my befuddlement. (Oh, if you�re doing that, try to also check out the first album by �N Sync, or Five. Take a look at the hairstyles. And cringe away.) Okay, so that�s why I don�t like to have myself on photographs. Plus the fact that I never really know how to smile �right�, if you know what I mean. How not to smile like you�re a hyena who just spotted a truckload of dead cows, or how not to smile like you�re trying to feign interest and enjoyment in watching your twelve-year-old bratty cousin cut his birthday cake, or how not to smile like hearing Uncle Aaron�s story about the merits of going vegetarian for the six millionth time is still as captivating as ever. Or something like that. But after watching this movie, I guess I�ve got one extra reason not to capture myself in a photograph ever again. Oh okay. Maybe until Christmas. Okay then. So let�s start with the review. �One Hour Photo� stars Robin Williams as Sy Parrish, a photo developer at an express service photo store who, apart from developing photos, also develops an unhealthy obsession with the Yorkin family, whose photos he has been developing for years. The Yorkin family includes Will the father, who�s played by Michael Vartan of �Alias� fame (which, by the way, is a great show). Now, his character�s name in �Alias� is Michael Vaughn, so I�m just gonna call him Mike the Mike here, since well, his real name is also Michael. Also in the family is Nina, who�s played by Connie Nielsen from �Gladiator� and their kid called Jakob. The movie starts somewhat ominously, in that the first scene is Sy in the spick-and-span (gee, who even uses that word nowadays?) police interrogation room, where the police officer basically tells him �you in big big trouble� and they are arresting him for those disturbance of privacy and stalker thingies that we normally associate with people like Britney Spears, Madonna or other similarly over-rated celebrities. So we all know how it�s all gonna end. To some extent. The police officer that drops the cryptic �[Mike the Mike] must have pissed you off real bad for you to do something like this to him�. So we�re not really sure if Mike the Mike ended up dead and mutilated with Sy taking photos of his lifeless body in various positions to spell �D-I-E�M-I-K-E�T-H-E�M-I-K-E� or something crazy like that. Robin Williams asks to see the photos (how weird is that?) before he starts recounting the story for us, so let�s go find out! We open with Jakob�s birthday party. Lots of flashes (hey, get your mind out the gutter) and Mike the Mike�s used up his entire load. Of film, people, come on! Nina and Jakob then bring said load over to the Quickie-Foto outlet (or whatever it�s called in the film, you get the idea) for Sy to develop. Being one of their best customers, Sy does it in double-quick time. Only he doesn�t only do it in double-quick time, he also does doubly more. When Nina asks for two sets of prints, he makes three instead. The extra set he keeps for himself. Why? Because at home, he has an entire wall filled with photos of the Yorkin family, right from Jakob�s day one. Sy is essentially a loner, an introvert who lives by himself, who keeps his own spot neat and tidy, and takes pride in doing what he does best � developing photographs. As we find out later in the movie, he has no qualms in calling in the photo equipment repair people if the cyan has gone off by 2% (or something like that, I�m not exactly armed with a notepad in the theatre here). Now, before all of you well-I-never your way into thinking �What�s wrong with that�, I just thought I�d put this across in a scenario which might be easier to understand. Imagine you bake cakes for a living. By that I mean, you bake the cakes and then you sell them, because I doubt you could eat cake (and cake only) for every meal without getting a heart attack by the age of 10. You take immense pride in your cakes. So much so that it becomes almost obsessive. One day, you accidentally churn out a birthday cake that�s a little bit wrong. Nothing wrong with the cake itself, but in putting the icing letters you spell out �HAPPY BiRTHDAY JAMES� instead. Now, nothing wrong with that. I bet all the bakers who are reading this would go �Pffft � I�d just put more icing so that �i� becomes �I��. But if Sy were the baker, Sy wouldn�t do that. Sy would throw away the cake. So now do you think he�s obsessive-crazy? Moving away from Baking 101, Sy also gives Jakob one of those disposable cameras as a present (in that he just takes it off the shelf and passes it to him). Nina, for some unfathomable reason, suspects nothing. I mean, considering that this fella doesn�t really own the store, and he doesn�t even scan the barcode or something like that. Nina could be caught shoplifting, and Sy could feign ignorance, and we�d be watching a whole different movie here, whereby Sy then kills Mike the Mike and gains custody of Jakob, and Nina (who was sent to prison for shoplifting) begins a long-drawn-out process of exacting revenge on Sy. But I digress. We then get scenes of Sy getting overly friendly with Jakob. He goes to Jakob�s football matches, and chats with him. And then, at night, he goes home and admires the Yorkin Wall � filled with all the pretty pictures of the family. As he views the Yorkin Wall, a tiresome voiceover indicates to us the director�s message � about how photos always hide and mask what�s underneath the surface. We smile so that we do not expose our frustration, our hurt, our anger. And how when we look back on our photos, as we look back on our lives, we want to see only the happy moments. Or something like that. Like I said, I wasn�t armed with a notepad. In between all of this, Sy also finds time to hallucinate. He parks himself outside the Yorkin home, and imagines himself being part of that family. He imagines himself exploring the house, drinking the beer, watching the sports channel, relaxing on the couch, using the Yorkin loo to take a poo (this scene elicited a rather significant degree of shock from the audience in terms of gasps, as if the other scenes were not disturbing enough). One day, Mike the Mike is looking for some computer appliance in the store, and bumps into Sy. Sy initially brushes him away, until he recognises that it�s Mike the Mike! Oh my! Short of taking out a photo of Mike the Mike and his family and asking Mike the Mike for his mighty autograph, Sy starts chatting with him as if they have known each other for years. Mike the Mike, naturally, is taken aback at this loon (he refers to Sy as �The Photo Guy�), and doesn�t think much of it. As Sy offers to get the employee who deals with computer parts to help Mike the Mike, Jakob comes running along, and bumps into Sy. They chit-chat and it�s clear that Jakob does enjoy Sy�s company to a degree. I mean, they aren�t best friends, but Jakob doesn�t think of Sy as a stranger. Jakob is holding some hideous-looking action figure and bugging Mike the Mike to buy it for him. Mike the Mike says �Alias� isn�t paying him enough, and drags Jakob away, telling him not to talk to strangers (meaning Sy). Thank goodness Sy didn�t catch that last remark (he�s too busy smiling as he thinks of the smile of Jakob�s face when Sy himself buys him Hideous Action Figure). So we get to that. Sy goes to see Jakob at some football game, and walks him home. He passes Jakob the Hideous Action Figure. Jakob opens it, and maybe it�s the light, but he�s suddenly aware that the action figure really is hideous, and refuses to accept it. Sy says it�s okay, they�re like family (cue the gasps and groans in the theatre). Jakob thanks him but maintains that he cannot accept the gift, because has Sy even seen how hideous the action figure looks? Jakob cycles off, leaving Sy to brood. Why, oh why, will he not take the hideous action figure? Sometime in the future. Some young hot thing sashays into the photo shop and asks for a roll of film to be developed. Young Hot Thing leaves her name and details, and Sy goes about his work. Later in the timeline, the manager calls Sy up to his office and tells him that he�s gone through the records and realises that someone in the photo service shop is making extra copies and giving away free disposable cameras. Sy tries to push the blame to his co-worker (now that�s low) but Manager will have nothing of it. Sy is promptly fired. Furious Sy goes back to developing the pictures. He�s raging inside when Nine and Jakob arrive for their shopping, and ask for Jakob�s disposable camera to be developed. Sy stares at the camera, aware that it�s played a part in his firing, and coldly agrees to develop the photos. Nina and Jakob depart. Sy develops Young Hot Thing�s roll of film, and realises that Mike the Mike is in the photos! And Mike the Mike and Young Hot Thing are thoroughly enjoying each other�s company at the beach. Sy swaps the photos, giving Nina the photos of Mike the Mike and Young Hot Thing instead of the stupid things Jakob must have taken with the disposable camera. Furious Sy is still pissed at his firing. As he walks out of the store for the last time, he grabs a knife from the Sharp Knives aisle and hides it in his bag. The next day, he takes a drive, going to Manager�s house and taking photos of his little daughter playing on the lawn. He sends the film for development, and Manager is brought the photos. Manager goes crazy as Sy has his revenge. Next, Sy plants himself outside the supermarket. Nina rushes in to collect the photos, and speeds off. Sy follows. After some distance, Nina�s car starts turning recklessly. Nina has seen Naked Mike the Mike with Naked Young Hot Thing! Sy follows Nina home, observing the house with his binoculars. Mike the Mike returns home, and nothing happens. Nina acts as if nothing has happened, and Sy is pissed off. He feels he has to do something. So Sy follows Mike the Mike and Young Hot Thing as they rendezvous for a little quickie in the middle of the afternoon. He books a room in the same hotel, and manages to find out where the action is happening. He pretends to be the room service guy, and forces himself into the room. He then holds up the knife and his camera, and forces Young Hot Thing to perform indecent acts on Naked Mike the Mike. Now, from the way the movie was filmed, said indecent acts really seemed to be things that are probably happening in college dormitories all over the world, or in locked parked cars in quiet places. But I can imagine the trauma when this freako starts telling you to do gross things. And he has a knife as well. Plus a camera. Young Hot Thing starts crying and crying and Sy forcefully tells her to shut up and just do it. Young Hot Thing continues to cry. Poor Sy. Even after he�s released from jail, he won�t even be able to establish a career as a porn film director. Mike the Mike looks pained. At this point, a group of angry female �Alias� fans left the theatre, muttering to themselves �We watch him every week on the show and we don�t even get so much as a torso shot, and now he�s almost completely naked?� The police are hot on the trail of Sy. They visit his house, see the Yorkin Wall (with Mike the Mike scratched out), and finally locate him at the hotel. They barge in. Sy is gone. They chase him to the carpark and arrest him. The Yorkin family get reunited, and they seem happy. And we�re back to the interrogation room. Turns out Sy didn�t load any film into the camera. But he did confess the entire story. He then breaks down about how he was sexually abused by his father when he was young. Fine, I buy that that would be a reasonable explanation for how screwed up he turned out, but then the movie just sort of ends there. Just like that. R.D.�s Rating : I would have liked the Yorkin family to be more thoroughly sketched out, but Robin Williams did a great job here, and it�s almost on its way to being a HOUND DAWG. (What�s a HOUND DAWG? Check out R.D�s rating system here.) Sound off!! We know Robin Williams was good in the show, but don�t you think he�s put on quite a bit of weight? Did this movie keep you awake at night, with the knowledge that there are actually such hideous-looking action figures out there? Were you satisfied with the ending, or were you� Tell me here. |