One Hour Photo - 09/01/02

Trying out a new format here, with my reviews... hope you dig it.

OK. So, I just came back from seeing One Hour Photo. JoBlo.com usually sees a ton of movies... but they hadn't gotten around to watching this one. I dig his reviews... they're pretty straight forward... and we have some similar tastes in films... so when I saw that he hadn't gotten around to seeing this one... well, that really didn't tell me anything... figured I'd just have to go it alone, see for myself.

Manhattan prices, for movies, are ridiculous. $10.00 per ticket. Unreal. I have a hard time seeing films for that amount. Luckily, I got to see this in PA, where I also saw XXX... money not well spent... and I probably would have been kicking myself, had I seen that film for full price... so. Suffice it to say, I don't have a very hard time parting with the money... but more and more, I'm seeing films that are just not worth it. The quality of the work is not taking into account the moviegoer... just the weeks receipts.

So. Earlier this year I saw another Robin Williams drama, Insomnia... which was a terrible film, through and through. A remake, and the second outing of Memento director Christopher Nolan... I had high hopes. Williams has the ability to do drama... Dead Again, Good Will Hunting... he brings his comedic abilities to the character, and surprises you with the characters strength and seriousness. I dig that about his work... so, after Insomnia... well, I was a little hesitant. I blame that films demise to the writing, to be honest. There's no need, in my eyes, for Hollywood to be re-making a film that was made only seven scant years ago... billowing a budget of over $50 million dollars (for the talent, specifically)... and wasting the follow-up of Nolan's first work on something that was predictable and, well, just badly written.

Written and directed by Mark Romanek (whose first feature, in 1985, Static, was a collaboration with Christine actor Keith Gordon)... this was a name out of left field for me. He's a director of music videos... seems to be where a number of Hollywood directors are coming from (Fincher, Michael Bay)... and, to be honest, I didn't do much research prior to seeing the film. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I figured that with Williams in the drivers seat of yet another drama this year... well, it couldn't possibly be worse than Insomnia.

So... I would have to say that this was a solid film for a first time writer/director. I say first time because how much experience can you retain after seventeen years? I don't think directing is like riding a bicycle... it's not something you just remember straight away... and I think there's a large difference between feature film making and videos... though I'm sure the process is similar... I think you get my meaning.

One of the things I find that happens with writer/directors is that the material gets away from the creator. This was a solid film, with a director who was passionate enough about his writing to, probably, let there be some compromises. Williams knows his craft... and his ability to improvise is almost on par with Dustin Hoffman's... so I'm sure there was some lee-way, in regards to the character.

I think a lot of people on this site are familiar with letting things go... in regards to making choices with their work. It was the first thing I thought of when I walked out of the theater. The film wasn't heavy handed. It wasn't trying to beat down anything into the audience. There were things you HAD to think about... and there were things shown. That's it.

The acting in the film was pretty suitable to the pace of the film. There were no knock-out performances from Connie Nielsen or Michael Vartan. Gary Cole and Eriq La Salle... pretty blah. Funny too, because I saw a trailer for Le Salle's next film, Crazy as Hell... which he is also directing... and let me tell you, that man needs to stop acting.

Williams was pretty great, but, again, the overall pace of the film kept the characters at bay... with the exception of Dylan Smith, who plays young Jakob Yorkin. He did a pretty good job... and I was most impressed with his work.

A little bit more on the directing. I think one of the things I was impressed with most were the choices of shots... the suspense of showing what happens next... or the blocking of faces for the effect of the audience not really knowing everything that was going on... but the character knew something we didn't... something we would find out later... Romanek handled that very well. I was impressed with a number of the decisions, in regards to shots.

I will say something about the way the film was structured. The voice overs were used ok... the didn't get in the way of the story, and they served as a kind of schizophrenic narration, having little to do with what we were seeing... but wrapping itself up at the end of the film... I think that people need to pay more attention to all of the aspects of the movie. You'll catch little hints here and there... and the structure of the story, to me, made things a little too predictable. I saw certain things coming, due to how the film opens... which might have been on purpose... but it subdued some of the suspense for me, knowing certain things ahead of time. There was a certain trick in the dialog at the beginning of the film... specifically meant to throw off the viewer... well... I'm not one for tricks.

Jeff Cronenweth was the DP, and I think he did a fine job, though he didn't really bring much to the film that he did with other films, such as Fight Club. I thought that the overall look of the film, especially in regards to color, was decent... but you have to wonder how the guy who shot Fight Club got to shoot such a straight forward film.

Overall, a decent film. I think that these kinds of films are much more important to the independent film crowd, than any other. It's good to note that actors like Williams are interested in more than just big budget films and large pay-checks. As I mentioned that Insomnia had a ridiculous budget, to satisfy the actors... Williams obviously took a different route with this film... the budget of One Hour Photo being only $7 million. Films of this depth, structure and intelligence... even with its shortcomings (which are few and far between)... this is probably the most successful film (again, in regards to independent film) this year.