Robin Williams is Truly Frightening in this Forgotten Psychological Thriller Gem on Hulu
It’s no secret that filmmakers and actors alike are typecast in the film industry. Once you’re known for one specific genre, it becomes incredibly difficult to break into other areas. Just ask John Carpenter, who often dabbled in other areas with films such Starman.
Whenever someone does manage to make the transition from one genre to the other, it’s met with skepticism. The reactions to Danny McBride writing David Gordon Green’s Halloween immediately come to mind. One such case was when the late, great comedian Robin Williams forayed into the horror genre with two separate films in 2002. The first was the thriller, Insomnia, co-starring Al Pacino. The other, One Hour Photo, contains the most unsettling performance in Williams’ career, and it’s now streaming on Hulu.
What’s One Hour Photo about? Per Hulu:
An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.
The idea of a one hour photo shop may seem foreign to those who have grown up in the mile a minute digital age, but we really did once have to put our photos in the hands of complete strangers, and it absolutely was uncomfortable to know that they might see things we’d rather they not. Writer/director Mark Romanek’s One Hour Photo captures that fear with atmospheric precision. Set right around the introduction of digital cameras and the decline of photos you could hold in your hand—wild, I know—the film is a fascinating snapshot of a brief yet massive transition point in how we see the world. There’s a palpable sadness all throughout, embodied by Robin Williams in a skin-prickling performance.
With his character of Sy, “the photo guy”, Williams does a brilliant job of bringing this complex person to life. On one hand, Sy is a creep collecting photos of a family he wishes to be a part of. On the other, you can’t help but feel some empathy for this guy who has been abandoned by society. He’s a lonely man who believes his work is important, but can sense the world leaving him behind.
The talent of Robin Williams stretched far beyond his typecasting in comedy, and One Hour Photo is a glossy, 5×7 image that puts into frame just how talented of an actor he was.
What do you think of One Hour Photo? Let me know on Bluesky @werematt.
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