I saw One Hour Photo this weekend. It was probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in several months. The acting, directing, cinematography were all top notch. The story was so good, that I shook my head in disbelief that this came from Hollywood. Read below, there are no spoilers here.

The movie explored many different themes through the eyes of Seymour Parrish, aka Sy the Photo Guy. There is a strong overall theme of external appearance of relationships. Seymour is a photo tech at a local Wal-mart like place. A perfect job for someone obsessed with appearances. Sy himself explains his view of photos as snapshots in time, almost always showing happiness and joy. Robin Williams executes the character brilliantly bringing us into Seymour’s world so we can “see more” from his perspective. In fact, almost the entire movie is shot from Seymour’s view. He has a particular idea of how the Yorkins, a seemingly idyllic American family, live. He judges this from the photos he’s collected over the years of the Yorkins. These photos bring him joy and build a fantasy world for Seymour to experience the life he doesn’t have. Seymour’s life is painfully empty, serving as an empty canvas to contrast with the rich life we see of the Yorkins. As Seymour tries to become a part of the Yorkins life, events unfold which undermine his fantasy world. And in this way we see this movie really develop, exploring the notion that what we see on the surface is not what lies beneath.

A lot of beautiful and frightening imagery is used throughout the movie. It will disturb you. There is a particular dream sequence which I had a dream of the other night. Crazy.

However, this movie I’d consider an anti-thriller. There are no axe-weilding psychos chopping up scantily-clad co-eds, or disfigured freaks prey on women. Just one of the many people you interact with on a daily basis. You know their face and they may know yours. They may know more than just that. They may know where you live, where you work, what you eat, who you love, who loves you, and how you forget to lock the backdoor. This is a story that could be playing out in your neighborhood right now. Unfolding under your nose, with you none the wiser. Only to realize it when it’s too late or to see the result of it on the local news. Maybe that’s the really scary part of this scary movie.