FLMKR4EB
Jun 20th, 2002, 09:26:58 PM
Yes, I indeed had the pleasure of viewing the third film in which Robin Williams portrays a psychologically sick human being. How? All I'll say is that it was a nice private screening with 3 producer friends of mine, an author, and myself.
THE PRINT.
The print was brand new, only run once prior to this screening. My grade. Fair print. It had some wear on the tails of a few reels which bothered me. That's the labs fault, not the projectinist, who also is a close friend of mine. He Gaffed a movie I worked on, and was the crane oporator on another.
THE MOVIE
Well, the movie opens with a very straining and tense score accompanied by the sounds of an automated photo processor. Very eerie. Right away I was uncomfortable, which is a good thing for a film of this nature. The opening shot was really nice. It's an entirely too long static shot of a police mug shot camera. Wow, I love the use of suspence in this shot, I mean it just drags making you more and more uncomfortable. Good directing and editing call there.
But after that, it's pretty much down hill. The movie starts with a flashback. In my opinion, flashbacks can make or break a film. For instense, The Usual Suspects, great use of flashback to tell a story. One Hour Photo? Not a good use. It gives the audience way to much knowledge before the plot even begins and giving you only one question to wait for an answer to at the end. So, as a writer/director, the use of flashback here is a really poor choice. Tell the story.
Oh, and the pay off for the one question you are given is mediocre. I mean, its a cool idea, but makes the movie end to simply, to "Disney". To summarize, if Disney were going to make a movie about a psycho stalker, this would be it. You feel this guy, this poor loser. It works, you do feel sympathy, but more than anything creeped out, which is a testament to Robin Williams' excellent performance.
Robin give it his all, and totally weirds me out, every second he is on screen. Kudos to him. He makes this film worth watching. Man he gave me chills from the get go, and made me squirm in my seat with anxiouty. He just made me so uncomfortable, exatly what he needed to do.
Now, I forgot who directed this, and didn't feel the need to look it up because in my opinion he did an average job of directing, and an even less average job writing it. Its a cool concept. Something I wish I would have gotten to first, but I didn't care for the story that much.
BUT, the director made some really great choices in shots. IF and when you see this film, please keep this in mind, watch the framing on Robin Williams. Its a really clever trick, but he is framed like a picture 85% of the time. I mean there are shots of him through windows, several of his face in a mirror, car window, etc. He is generally boxed in, like a photgraph, there is almost always something bordering his portrait or self. I love this, its such a small thing that not too many will pick up on it, but it is so cool. I love framing, it is something that young filmmakers forget all about, but is very important. Framing can create mood, tension, anything you want, you just need to play with it.
I also must say, the production design was so choice. Nice a subtle, great color schemes, esspecially with the different hues of Blue.
So, over all it wasn't a great movie, it was ok. Worth waiting for video, nothing I'd ever own. See it if you really want to catch it in theaters, its not something that must be seen on the big screen, its only in 1:85, which is all it needed, scope would have been too much for this film, and although I love scope to death, it just wouldn't have worked here.
My advice is rent it.
Rating: C
--FLMKR4EB
THE PRINT.
The print was brand new, only run once prior to this screening. My grade. Fair print. It had some wear on the tails of a few reels which bothered me. That's the labs fault, not the projectinist, who also is a close friend of mine. He Gaffed a movie I worked on, and was the crane oporator on another.
THE MOVIE
Well, the movie opens with a very straining and tense score accompanied by the sounds of an automated photo processor. Very eerie. Right away I was uncomfortable, which is a good thing for a film of this nature. The opening shot was really nice. It's an entirely too long static shot of a police mug shot camera. Wow, I love the use of suspence in this shot, I mean it just drags making you more and more uncomfortable. Good directing and editing call there.
But after that, it's pretty much down hill. The movie starts with a flashback. In my opinion, flashbacks can make or break a film. For instense, The Usual Suspects, great use of flashback to tell a story. One Hour Photo? Not a good use. It gives the audience way to much knowledge before the plot even begins and giving you only one question to wait for an answer to at the end. So, as a writer/director, the use of flashback here is a really poor choice. Tell the story.
Oh, and the pay off for the one question you are given is mediocre. I mean, its a cool idea, but makes the movie end to simply, to "Disney". To summarize, if Disney were going to make a movie about a psycho stalker, this would be it. You feel this guy, this poor loser. It works, you do feel sympathy, but more than anything creeped out, which is a testament to Robin Williams' excellent performance.
Robin give it his all, and totally weirds me out, every second he is on screen. Kudos to him. He makes this film worth watching. Man he gave me chills from the get go, and made me squirm in my seat with anxiouty. He just made me so uncomfortable, exatly what he needed to do.
Now, I forgot who directed this, and didn't feel the need to look it up because in my opinion he did an average job of directing, and an even less average job writing it. Its a cool concept. Something I wish I would have gotten to first, but I didn't care for the story that much.
BUT, the director made some really great choices in shots. IF and when you see this film, please keep this in mind, watch the framing on Robin Williams. Its a really clever trick, but he is framed like a picture 85% of the time. I mean there are shots of him through windows, several of his face in a mirror, car window, etc. He is generally boxed in, like a photgraph, there is almost always something bordering his portrait or self. I love this, its such a small thing that not too many will pick up on it, but it is so cool. I love framing, it is something that young filmmakers forget all about, but is very important. Framing can create mood, tension, anything you want, you just need to play with it.
I also must say, the production design was so choice. Nice a subtle, great color schemes, esspecially with the different hues of Blue.
So, over all it wasn't a great movie, it was ok. Worth waiting for video, nothing I'd ever own. See it if you really want to catch it in theaters, its not something that must be seen on the big screen, its only in 1:85, which is all it needed, scope would have been too much for this film, and although I love scope to death, it just wouldn't have worked here.
My advice is rent it.
Rating: C
--FLMKR4EB