One Hour Photo

REVIEW
Williams is haunting in his understated performance as Seymour "Sy" Parrish. An exacting, precise man, his concerted efforts to control a small corner of the world begin to fray under the strain of continued repression and the emergence of imperfection in his fantasy life. Sy (the photo guy) has been developing the photos of the Yorkin family since son Jakob was a fetus. He’s come to see himself as a member of the clan, uncle Sy, running off duplicates of their snapshots for the walls of his antiseptic apartment. Sy learns a lot about all of his regular customers through the images they bring to him. When he detects deception in his surrogate family just as his own circumstances start to deteriorate, this sad, emotionally isolated man feels his intricately constructed, stringent sense of order dissolve into terrorizing chaos. Effective counterbalance to Williams’ portrayal is offered by Nielsen as mom Nina and Smith as son Jakob, the child Sy was never allowed to be. A thoughtful, involving study of the many forms of abuse people inflict on each other, and the lingering effects they can elicit. An impressive second feature from director Romanek, whose previous Static was made 17 years before this.