History Film / OneHourPhoto

* AdultFear: Near the ending, it's discovered that [[spoiler:Sy has taken photos of Bill's daughter playing. An understandably freaked out Bill calls the police, setting the climax in motion]].

* WouldHurtAChild: Zigzagged with Sy. The photos Sy takes of his former boss's daughter were done to imply that he's threatening her, but it seems unlikely that he would harm the girl, he just wanted to terrify his boss. Similarly, all of the gifts he gives to Jake look a lot like a pedophile grooming a child for molestation, however there's no evidence that Sy is actually a pedophile or that he has any sexual interest any of the Yorkins at all - his obsession is due to wanting to be part of their picture-postcard family.

* WouldHurtAChild: Zigzagged with Sy. The photos he takes of his former boss's daughter were done to imply that he's threatening her, but it seems unlikely that he would harm the girl, he just wanted to terrify his boss. Similarly, all of the gifts he gives to Jake look a lot like a pedophile grooming a child for molestation, however there's no evidence that Sy is a pedophile or has any sexual interest in any of the Yorkins - his obsession is from wanting to be part of their picture-postcard family, not due to sex.

* StalkerWithoutACrush: Sy himself wants to be part of their family but as the lovable uncle.

** As stated above, Sy's boss Bill can be seen as a more serious version of the Bill from ''Film/OfficeSpace'', played by the same actor. And, of course, named the same. It's a sequel.

** Later played completely straight with [[spoiler:Sy forces Will and Maya to get naked and assume sexual positions; both of them are clearly terrified and Maya is openly crying]].

* ParentalIncest: Sy very heavily implies [[spoiler:that his parents did this to him when he was young]].

%%* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: A number of fans of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' like to point out Sy's and Jake's mispronunciations of the word "Evangelion" as "Ay-von-jelly-un." Sometimes with hilarious consequences.

''One Hour Photo'' is a 2002 PsychologicalThriller film directed by Mark Romanek and starring Creator/RobinWilliams.

Over the course of many years, he has coped with the loneliness in his life through a slow-building obsession with the Yorkins, a textbook modern American middle-class family -- husband Will, wife Nina, and son Jake -- who are among his regular customers. Longing for the perfect life he perceives through their pictures, Sy tries repeatedly to insert himself into the Yorkins' lives.

Released to critical and commercial success, this movie gave Williams a much-needed CareerResurrection and, along with ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' and ''Film/DeathToSmoochy'', helped usher in the so-called [[DarkerAndEdgier "dark period"]] of the actor's career, where he brought disturbing subtexts of his protagonists to the forefront after spending several years making overly maudlin, TastesLikeDiabetes-infused movies. Despite [[TechnologyMarchesOn digital photography making photo developing somewhat irrelevant,]] the movie is still incredibly effective as a psychological thriller.

* CatapultNightmare: Downplayed. After the nightmare sequence with [[RedEyesTakeWarning a brutal case of red eye]], Sy wakes up panting, twitching, and sweating. He also feels across his face and eyes to make sure he's okay before he calms down.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The nightmare scene. [[spoiler:Sy is in a completely empty, white department store aisle with his eyes closed. The camera keeps fading in closer until he opens his eyes... that are ''completely blood red.'' All sound cuts out at this moment, making it [[JumpScare all the more startling]] when he grabs his face and screams as [[HighPressureBlood blood shoots from his eyes]].]]

*** Since Williams is actually a fan of Evangelion in real life (the toy was actually his), it was likely his suggestion to do this in the first place.

** Everyone remembers the Evangelion, but nobody remembers Char's [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zaku]] in the fantasy sequence.

* ParentalIncest: Sy very heavily implies [[spoiler: that his parents did this to him when he was young]].

* BeneathNotice: Sy is so nondescript that most people don't notice anything strange about his behavior unless he raises his voice, a fact that he exploits when posing as room service at the hotel. For good measure, he also wears extremely bland clothes that blend with the surrounding environment. [[note]] This worked so well that, according to the director, members of the cast and crew would sometimes lose track of Williams while he was on set![[/note]]

* AmateurSleuth: Sy discovers Will's affair by researching photos on a whim that Maya looks familiar.

* BerserkButton: Don't even ''think'' of suggesting that Sy would intentionally mess with customers' photos.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Sy narrating about his usual customers of the day, but he described the final person as a "amateur porno artist" and reminded that any photos of [[PaedoHunt "kiddie porn"]] and [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals "animal cruelty"]] need to be reported.
* BrokenPedestal: Will to Sy after discovering his affair.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Sy makes copies of every one of the Yorkins' pictures to add to his collage. When his boss discovers that he's been making hundreds of unauthorised and unpaid-for prints, he is fired.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Sy's response to the technician's apathy, [[spoiler: his own firing, and Will Yorkin's adultery]] are far more than a sane person would consider justified.

* FanDisservice: Downplayed with the montage of nude women we see from Sy's regular customer who also happens to be an amateur porn producer, played completely straight with [[spoiler:Sy forcing Will and Maya to get naked and assume sexual positions, both of them visibly distraught and Maya openly crying]].

* ProperlyParanoid: Though you ''can'' still shop at a place you were fired from (albeit it would be awkward), Bill is worried that Sy is up to something bad when he does this -- believing that he may be there to harm the business or at worse, ''someone'', as Sy has been prone to acting on emotion and was upset when he got fired. [[spoiler:He's right; Sy is there to threaten Bill and his family.]]

* VillainProtagonist: Downplayed. [[TragicVillain Sy]] commits invasions of privacy.

Over the course of many years, he has coped with the loneliness and emptiness in his life through a slow-building obsession with the Yorkins, a textbook modern American middle-class family -- husband Will, wife Nina, and son Jake -- who are among his regular customers. Longing for the perfect life he perceives through their pictures, Sy tries to interject himself into the Yorkins' lives, which they subtly turn down.

After stumbling upon a dark secret within the family, Sy is distraught and tries to do something about it, but his efforts to save the Yorkins' picture-perfect life end up affecting it in ways none of them could ever imagine.

* BerserkButton: Don't even ''think'' of suggesting that Sy would intentionally mess with customer's photos.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Played with very darkly. Sy was a very odd man even when he was trying to act sane, but as he mentions to his boss at one point, he was the best photo developer in the city and he worked on the settings himself.

* RealityEnsues: Sy makes copies of every one of the Yorkins' pictures to add to his collage. When his boss discovers that he's been making hundreds of unauthorised and unpaid-for prints, he is fired.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Judging by his temperamental behavior, impulsive actions, emotional instability and his desperation desire for love, it's very likely that Sy has Borderline Personality Disorder.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: This movie was made at the last possible moment, just as digital photography reached the tipping point that started putting retail-consumer oriented film developers like Sy out of business.
** It's even lampshaded in the film, when Nina mentions she's thinking about buying one of the new digital cameras and Sy asked her not to, saying he wouldn't want to lose their business. Even sadder in hindsight, when you realize he'd been using their photos to lessen his own loneliness.
** In addition, this may be one of the things contributing to Sy's rapid mental breakdown. He's smart enough to know that his only way of making a living is quickly becoming obsolete.

Released to positive reviews, this movie gave Williams a much-needed CareerResurrection and, along with ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' and ''Film/DeathToSmoochy'', helped usher in the so-called [[DarkerAndEdgier "dark period"]] of the actor's career where he brought disturbing subtexts of his protagonists to the forefront after spending the past few years making overly maudlin, TastesLikeDiabetes-infused movies. Despite [[TechnologyMarchesOn digital photography making photo developing somewhat irrelevant,]] the movie is still incredibly effective as a psychological thriller.

* JumpScare: Exactly one almost exactly before the one-hour mark, making for arguably the most outwardly disturbing visual in the film. See RedEyesTakeWarning below.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The nightmare scene. [[spoiler:Sy is in a completely empty, white department store aisle with his eyes closed. The camera keeps fading in closer until he opens his eyes... that are ''completely blood red.'' All sound cuts out at this moment, making it [[JumpScare all the more jarring]] when he grabs his face and screams as [[HighPressureBlood blood shoots from his eyes]].]]

After stumbling upon a dark secret within the family, Sy is distraught and tries to do something about it, but his efforts to save the Yorkins' picture-perfect life end up affecting it in disturbing ways none of them could ever imagine.

Over the course of many years, he has slowly become obsessed with the Yorkins, a textbook modern American middle-class family -- husband Will, wife Nina, and son Jake -- who are among his regular customers. Longing for the perfect life he perceives through their pictures, Sy tries to interject himself into the Yorkins' lives, which they subtly turn down.

* TearsOfBlood: Sy, in his dream, has blood red eyes with a single blood-red tear. Right before [[HighPressureBlood a lot more]] shoots out, anyway.

[[caption-width-right:300:''“...and if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture.”'']]

->''"All I did was take pictures."''

Seymour "Sy" Parrish works as a technician at a supermarket's one-hour photo developing clinic. He's clean-cut and quite ordinary to the point of boring, but not all is well in Sy's world. He slowly becomes obsessed with the Yorkins, a seemingly perfect modern American family who are among his regular customers. Sy tries to interject himself into the Yorkins' lives, which they subtly turn down. After learning a dark secret happening within the family, he is distraught and tries to do something about it, although in disturbingly stalker-like ways. Interspersed in the whole mess are more than a few really creepy moments and a very well-built thriller climax.

* AmbiguousEnding: The very last shot in the film is a photograph of the Yorkin Family, with Sy smiling among them. It is intentionally left unclear as to whether this is a real picture or more of Sy's fantasizing. [[note]]According to the director, it's the former. He felt that it was entirely possible for the Yorkins to eventually forgive Sy, and to express some sort of gratitude for his attempt to stop them from falling apart.[[/note]]

* BerserkButton: Don't even ''think'' of suggesting that Sy would "fuck up" a customer's photos.

* ChekhovsGun: The hunting knife.
** To a lesser extent, the free camera Sy gave to Jake [[spoiler: which is how Sy informs Nina that Will is cheating on her]].
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: All of Sy's scenes look "poorly developed" while the Yorkins' scenes are bright and advertisement-perfect.

* CreepyMonotone: Sy Parrish. It's creepy as hell to hear Creator/RobinWilliams' voice like that, doubly so on the few times he ends up SuddenlyShouting.

** During his lunch with Nina, he comments on Deepak Chopra's line in the book that "The things we fear the most have already happened to us". [[spoiler: Puts a significantly darker light to things when you realize that Mr. Yorkin had been having an affair and essentially ruining his "perfect vision" of the Yorkins long before he has even realized it himself]].
* HighPressureBlood: One really bad case of "red eye." See below.
* HilariousOuttakes: Sy is such a bottled up and intense character that it's actually fairly shocking to watch the DVD "behind the scenes" features and see that between takes Robin acted just like his normal goofy self. Director Mark Romanek has said that he occasionally would tell Robin to just "let it out" and joke constantly for 10 minutes or so when he felt he had become too deep in character.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: A number of fans of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' like to point out Sy's and Jake's mispronunciations of the word "Evangelion" as "Ay-von-jelly-un." Sometimes with hilarious consequences.

** Yorkin = Your Kin.

* MotiveRant: Sy, at the end. [[spoiler:He reveals that he'd had sexually provocative pictures taken of him as a child by his own father.]]

* RedEyesTakeWarning: The nightmare scene. Sy [[spoiler:is in a completely empty, white department store with his eyes closed. The camera keeps fading in closer until he opens his eyes... that are ''completely blood red.'' Trauma ensues as he screams and [[HighPressureBlood blood shoots from his eyes]].]]

** Early on in the film Sy watches the classic episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E2CapeFeare Cape Feare]]" of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' on his TV.
** Later ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' is on TV, but Sy is too busy watching the wall of his RoomFullOfCrazy.

** The toy Sy gives Jake is an [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion unit]] [[note]]a Mass Production Eva from ''The End of Evangelion'', which his character mispronounces to an unusual degree[[/note]].
*** Oddly Jake refers to the Mass Production Eva as a good guy. While this might be true from a certain point of view, one wonders if [[ChildrenAreInnocent it was a mistake]] or if they were trying to say something here.

* TechMarchesOn: This movie was made at the last possible moment, just as digital photography reached the tipping point that started putting retail-consumer oriented film developers like Sy out of business.

* TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: After Sy gets fired from his job at the SavMart, he shows up one more time to get a roll of film developed. The pictures are all photos of the manager's daughter, in her front yard. Upon seeing these, the manager immediately calls the police.

[[caption-width-right:300: '' ...and if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this: I was here. I existed. I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture. '']]