One Hour Photo (2002)

Directed by Mark Romanek. Starring Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Eriq La Salle, Gary Cole, Dylan Smith, Paul H. Kim, Clark Gregg, Erin Daniels. [R]

Williams is “Sy the Photo Guy,” the disturbed photo technician at a retail store (and the second sicko he played in 2002 after Insomnia), who has taken an unhealthy interest in a family who frequents his one-hour photo lab. Unsettling psychological thriller draws the viewer in with gradually tightening tension, and while the eventual release favors reflective ambiguity over cheap shocks, a little too much is left unsaid, especially since the character study in writer/director Romanek’s script rests so close to the surface. Jeff Cronenweth’s chilly, metaphor-heavy photography and a well-modulated piece of unstable minimalism from Williams provide ample redemption. Would have been the first film for which Trent Reznor produced a film score, except that Romanek rejected it for not fitting (some of the compositions were reworked for Nine Inch Nails’ 2002 record, Still).

69/100