One Hour Photo (2002)
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A lonely photo technician becomes dangerously obsessed with the lives of a family he serves.
The story
Sy Parrish is a lonely photo technician at a one-hour photo lab in a large retail store. He spends his days developing photos for various customers, but he has developed a secret, intense obsession with the Yorkin family, whom he has served for years. He has even begun to insert himself into their lives by feigning interest in their personal lives. However, his double life is threatened when his manager begins auditing the store's expenses, discovering that Sy has been producing an excessive number of extra prints for the Yorkins without payment.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Sy Parrish, a lonely photo technician at SavMart, becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family, keeping secret copies of their photos in his home. When his manager, Bill, discovers Sy's unauthorized printing and fires him, Sy's obsession takes a dark turn. He discovers that Will Yorkin is having an affair with Maya Burson. Sy begins a campaign of harassment, including taking paparazzi-style photos of Bill's daughter and planting evidence of Will's affair for Nina to find. After a confrontation at a hotel where Sy forces the lovers to pose for him, he is eventually caught by police. During his interrogation, Sy claims his parents took pornographic photos of him as a child. When he is allowed to see the photos he took of the lovers, he finds they only show empty hotel room furnishings, suggesting his actions were part of a delusional fantasy.
- First release year
- 2002
- Runtime (minutes)
- 96
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Mark Romanek
- Writers
- Mark Romanek · writer
- Cast and characters
- Robin Williams · Sy; Connie Nielsen · Nina Yorkin; Michael Vartan · Will Yorkin; Gary Cole · Bill Owens; Eriq La Salle · Yoshi
- Genres
- psychological thriller; drama
- Themes
- obsession; voyeurism; isolation; infidelity
- Tone and mood
- creepy; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- stalking; voyeurism; psychological thriller
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, particularly praising Robin Williams' performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 82% · scale: percentage · review count: 195; Metacritic · score: 64 · scale: 100 · review count: 35; CinemaScore · score: C · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- Trent Reznor was originally asked to compose the score but was replaced.; Jack Nicholson was the first actor approached for the lead role.; Robin Williams trained in a photo development lab for his role.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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