One Hour Photo

A photo shop clerk (Robin Williams) becomes obsessed with a family whose pictures he processes, to the point of fantasizing himself as their favorite uncle; when the family has domestic problems, he goes round the bend. The film is visually striking, but it takes place entirely within the world of writer/director Mark Romanek’s style. Oddly enough, its chief shortcoming is at the same time its greatest asset: the vacuum-bottle atmosphere, the feeling that its universe contains not one atom more than Romanek needs to tell his strange little story. Williams is restrained and creepy—a little too much so, in fact; seeing him so clenched and sinister, he practically has a neon sign flashing “weirdo” over his head. It’s hard to believe the other characters don’t find him just as alarming as we do.