'One Hour Photo' Film clips and poster analysis

Thriller text analysis number one: - 'One Hour Photo'


The Genre of the film: - Thriller/drama

The film is directed by Mark Romanek and was released in 2002.  The film was originally filmed in the US, but was released in the UK on the 4th of October 2002.  It spent a budget of 12,000,00 (approx.) but reached the highest gross of £1,331.333 on the first screening on the 20th of October in 2002 in the UK. 

The story of this thriller is about a one hour photo lab scientist who becomes deeply obsessed with a suburban family.  He has hardly had any friends but learns from the photographs from his customers that he produces.  He soon becomes obsessed with the Yorkin family and the mother, Nina Yorkin and her adolescent son Jake Yorkin.  One of his obsessions is fantasising about him being their favourite "Uncle Sy", even though he has little/no relation with the family anyway.  He starts to turn depraved over the family, trying to urge imself closer into the family and "linking" himself to them by being their "uncle".  Throughout the film this starts to haunt him and causes him to change for the worst, causing him to turn his obsession into danger, visiting and following the family where ever they go. 

It is a deeply psychological and also tense and chilling thriller as the idea of 'stalking' and the way it makes you feel that you have no privacy while watching the film.

The first analysis of the film would be about the movie poster.  The poster gives a creepy but yet chilling essence to it as on the poster it has the camera which he uses, which is covered in red, which yet would describe the "chilling" essence to it as he stalks the family and takes pictures of them doing their normal life. 

It also shows Robin's face expression (who plays a 'Sy' in the film) with the camera and it looks like it takes up one of his eyes, making the character seem as if it was part of him.  This is takes up half of the poster, grabbing the audiences  attention almost  instantly.  The facial expression of Robbie also gives it a "uncomfortable" feeling to it as if it is an addiction and he can't stop as he obsessed with taking pictures of the family.  It also somehow gives the audience a feeling of sympathy for the character as when you look at his eye, it seems lost and sad as it makes his face look "expressionless", and therefore making the camera seem like it is a "part of him."

Also on Robin's face, it shows his facial expression to be "evil" like as when you look at him at first sight, you see him to be scary as he shows hardly any expression but the camera "creates" most of it as it makes him seem twisted. 

The photo underneath Robin's face shows him standing almost 'casually' but yet 'proudly' in front of a wall of pictures that he took of the suburban family.  This gives a feeling that he is wicked and twisted in what he is doing because his body posture seems to make him look as if he had no remorse in what he is doing.

Film Clips Analysis


The film trailer:

 

Film Critic analysis

 

On IMDb - It scored a rating of 6.5/10 and was reviewed by critics such as Robert Egbert, The Guardian and also The Observer.   On IMDb, most users rated the film a 7 as out of all ratings, 32.4% of all viewers rated it a 7 (25568 ratings), 20.7% (16369 ratings) - 8, 7.3% (5782) -9 and 4.8% (3812) a 10.  Overall, 78908 users averaged the vote of 6.8/10.

 

Robert Egbert linked the film to other thrillers such as 'Peeping Tom'.  With this film he describes it to be a "Profoundly creepy" film as in 'The One Hour Photo', Sy takes pictures of more innocent families, where in 'Peeping Tom', the character actually shows depravity, which shows that he has a condition, where Sy has an addiction.  He also links the film to 'Peeping Tom' as in the 1960's film, he uses a camera but with a hidden stiletto inside which is concealed in the front leg of his tripod, which he records them with the stiletto pointing out at them and get's closer and closer and in the end, kills them.  In 'The One Hour Photo', he describes the camera to have a "psychological stiletto" and he also links the two characters together saying "he's the same kind of character, the sort of man you don't much notice, who blends in, accepted, overlooked, left alone so that his rich secret life can flower", but only separating them by the differences of the stalker in 'Peeping Tom' seeming more deprived and more obvious, than Sy, who blends in more to seem normal until he is close to the family.

 

I agree with this review as it does create a feeling that he does have a 'hidden weapon' in his camera and that in the end he may become so obsessed, that he eventually drives over the edge and into madness and showing it more in public.  I do also agree with him when he says that he "blends in" and that "you don't notice" because in the film he is always mostly a distance away from the family, in 'Peeping Tom', the stalker actually interacts more in his footage that he takes as he also takes videos as well as pictures.  In 'Peeping Tom', the stalker actually kills his victims as well, where in 'The One Hour Photo', he just stalks and tries to link a 'family bond' with the family. 

 

 

'Peeping Tom' Movie poster