Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a thriller film from 2002,
titled One Hour Photo. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
At the local police station, Sy is being processed. Detective James sits with him,
and while the lawyer isn't here yet, he still wants to know what made Sy do what he did. Sy
decides to tell him his story. Sy works as a photo technician at a one-hour photo in a big-box store,
a job he's had for twenty years. Photography is Sy's passion, and he's extremely thoughtful
about the process of photo development, which he considers a "vital service". Unfortunately though,
he has no friends, relatives, or girlfriend, he lives alone with his pet hamster. Work is
all he has, and he does like looking at people's pictures because they take photos of important
memories they want to remember, not of things that hurt. His favorite clients are the Yorkin family:
Nina and her son Jake come to his store often, but Sy only knows the husband Will through pictures.
Whenever they come by, Sy rushes to the front desk, sometimes making mistakes on the work
he's doing just to hurry, which it's not typical of him. Sy takes over from his coworker Yoshi,
showing he's memorized Nina's address, the size of pictures she likes, and everyone's names. Today,
there's a picture left on Nina's roll, and Sy spends it on himself before promising to have
her copies done before they close even if she's come late, which usually would mean picking them
up the next day. Later, when Nina comes by for the finished product, Sy tells her he's made
them bigger than she's asked for and won't charge her for it. He also notices the pictures were of
Jake's birthday, so he gifts the boy one of the shop's disposable cameras, saying it's a free
gift for a client's birthday. Before Nina leaves, Sy takes notice of the book she carries in her
bag. When Nina makes it home, the family looks at the pictures together, and Jake explains to his
dad that the last picture is "Sy the photo guy". After dinner, Nina tucks her son in bed and Jake
confesses he feels bad for Sy because he looks sad and lonely, so Nina makes him close his eyes and
send Sy some good thoughts. Once Jake is asleep, Will confronts Nina about some extra spending
she's been doing, which starts an argument. However, Nina doesn't let him put her down.
She knows this isn't about material things, Will is actually neglectful because he's never there
for his family. Their argument raises in volume, which causes Jake to wake up and hear his parents
yelling at each other. Meanwhile, Sy leaves the store in his car after finding out someone has
broken the windshield. He has dinner at a restaurant, where he reveals he's made an
extra copy of Nina's pictures for himself. The waitress asks him about them, and Sy tells her
these are family pictures, calling Jake his nephew. Later at his apartment, Sy adds these
pictures to his collection, which includes framed photos on his dresser but also a very creepy wall
dedicated to the Yorkin family. The rest of the evening, Sy spends it watching brainless tv.
The following day is Monday, which is always the busiest day because people take lots of pictures
over the weekend. Sy's store has tons of regular customers and Sy treats them all respectfully,
from the lady that only takes pictures of her cats to the man that does adult shots. Employees
must only report animal cruelty and adult material that includes children, otherwise, it's not their
problem what their clients take pictures of. In the afternoon, Sy makes a scene while arguing with
the machine repairman, who has lots of work to do and Sy called him over just because the machine
has a barely noticeable point three blue shift. The mall's manager Bill sees this and approaches
Sy while he's having lunch and daydreaming about being part of the Yorkin family as he stares at
a picture of them. Sy hides the picture as soon as Bill sits in front of him to scold him about
what happened earlier, and after Sy promises not to make any more scenes in front of the customers,
Bill reminds him he's never used his vacation time. Sy pretends to consider taking some days
off soon, but ironically, on his way out, Bill points out that Sy takes too long for his lunch
break. Afterward, Sy starts making his way back to the store, only to accidentally come across Will,
who is doing some shopping. Sy introduces himself and tries to do some small talk only to be very
awkward at it. Since Bill is keeping an eye on him from his office, Sy cuts the conversation short,
but only after telling Will that he's very lucky to have such a beautiful family and perfect life.
Then, Sy tries to go back to his shop again, and this time he bumps into Jake. The boy has an
Evangelion figurine in his hands that he wants to buy, but his father won't let him, so Sy promises
to put it back on the shelf. After work, Sy has some coffee while reading the same book as Nina,
then goes for a walk to the local fair. Whenever he finds a box with photographs, he looks through
them as he thinks about the fact people never take pictures of the little things, like their
used band-aids or a wasp in the Jell-O, even if those are the things that make up the true picture
of their lives. When Sy finds a black-and-white picture of a woman, he decides to buy it. Next,
Sy goes to the Yorkins' house to sneak inside. He looks around every room, smiling when he sees his
picture on the fridge among the family photos. He also uses the bathroom, puts on Will's clothes,
and watches a game on tv while drinking beer and talking to the dog. When the Yorkins come back,
they thank Sy for housesitting and Jake calls him "uncle Sy". Unfortunately,
the moment is interrupted by Sy's own limits, because all this has been his imagination
running wild: he's actually never left his car. Sometime later, a woman named Maya comes to the
store to leave some rolls. Sy swears he's seen her before because her face looks extremely familiar,
so Maya says he's probably seen her around shopping, but Sy isn't convinced. After work,
Sy goes to watch Jake at his soccer practice, pretending he was just passing by and found him by
accident. Since neither of Jake's parents came, Sy decides to walk him home while sharing a bit about
himself, explaining he used to be an unpopular fat kid that everyone bullied. He also gifts Jake
the Evangelion figurine he wanted, but Jake turns it down because he doesn't want trouble at home.
Jake decides to go home on his own, but he at least accepts to call Sy by his name instead
of "mister". Some days later, Sy notices Nina has come to the mall to do some shopping, so he
discretely follows her. When she sits down to have lunch, Sy gets some food as well and pretends to
sit at the table next to hers by coincidence. The two of them do some small talk and Sy impresses
Nina by quoting the book they're both reading, he also shows her the picture he bought at the fair
as he says that's his mother in order to look more normal than he is. Towards the end of the day,
Bill calls Sy to his office to discuss some issues he's been noticing in the shop. There are
discrepancies in the click count that translate into hundreds of extra prints that haven't been
sold, all logged under Sy's time on the machine. On top of this, there's the fact Sy has been
taking ninety minutes long lunches, spacing out in the middle of work, the scene he caused with
the repairman, and the camera he gifted as free birthday merchandise. In short, Bill has no choice
but to fire Sy, although he gets to finish the week. The news is devastating for Sy, who spends
the rest of his day sad and distracted. When Nina and Jake come over to leave the disposable camera
for development, Sy isn't as warm or chatty as usual and forgets the address he used to know
by heart. He also promises to get them ready for the next day instead of in the same afternoon.
After Nina and Jake leave, Sy begins working on the pictures, and his frustration has him opening
the camera with a little too much strength. Once the pictures are ready, Sy begins crying
as he looks over them to enjoy all the little silly things Jake took photos of. After work,
Sy does some thinking in his car and finally realizes he may know where he's seen Maya before.
When he returns to his apartment, he confirms his suspicions when he looks at the Yorkins' pictures
and finds Maya is part of Will's softball team. The next morning, he shows up at the store earlier
than usual to look at Maya's pictures, which had been developed by Yoshi. The image he had of the
Yorkins being the perfect family is instantly destroyed when Sy finds photos of Maya and Will
together, confirming an affair. Now Sy struggles with intrusive thoughts that tell him to respect
society's morals instead of respecting a client's privacy. At the end of the day, Sy says his final
goodbye to Yoshi, but before leaving the mall for good, he uses his store keys to open a glass
display and steal a knife. However, he doesn't go home: he waits outside for Nina to come to pick up
the pictures, then follows her in his car when she leaves with the package. Jake is with her, and he
looks through the pictures while his mom drives; this causes her to almost drive off the road when
she sees what's inside the package. It turns out Sy exchanged the content of the envelopes and Nina
got Maya's pictures, so now she's seen the truth. Sy's been following them in case the shock could
cause an accident. Nina cries at what she sees in the photographs, yet she doesn't comment on them.
She and Jake go back home and have dinner with Will as if nothing had happened,
which makes Sy furious while he spies on them from the street because he can't understand how
Nina doesn't confront her husband. Later when he returns to his apartment, Sy stares at his
photo wall before going to bed, where he has a nightmare of him staying in the middle of the
empty mall with bleeding eyes. When he wakes up, he finds the Evangelion figurine staring at him,
and he decides to go back to his wall to do some corrections. The next day,
Sy begins his usual breakfast and shower routine before starting a new plan in his unemployed life.
First, he stops at a house in the suburbs to take some pictures, where it is revealed that even his
keychain has a picture of the Yorkins. Then, he goes to the mall to drop off his roll. Bill wants
to forbid him from shopping there, but since Sy threatens with causing a scene, he lets him
in just for today. Afterward, Sy stalks Will and Maya, who leave together for a hotel. Sy follows
them inside and uses the available phone to pretend to be room service and find out what room
Will and Maya are in. Then, he checks in and asks for a room on the same floor. Meanwhile, Yoshi has
finished the development of Sy's roll and takes the resulting pictures to Bill, who calls the
police as soon as he sees the shocking content: they're all pictures of his daughter playing in
his house's yard. James comes over with another detective to ask Bill and Yoshi some questions,
Bill answers the best he can after calling his wife and telling her to take their daughter to
her mother's house. Guards are assigned around the store in case Sy comes back, but most importantly,
two officers get a search warrant for Sy's apartment. The landlord allows them inside,
and everyone is disturbed to find the wall covered with pictures that have Will's face scratched off.
Now that the cops know about Sy's obsession with this family, the detectives rush to Nina's house
and urge her to find Will and Jake. The kid isn't a problem, he's at a friend's house and the mother
can drive him over, but she can't find Will at the office when she calls. Suspecting what's going on,
Nina tells Will's assistant that she knows of the affair, which gets him to confess where Will
has gone. Back in the hotel, Sy goes to Will and Maya's room, covers the peephole with a sticker,
and then knocks on the door pretending to be room service. As soon as Maya opens the door,
Sy forces his way inside and threatens them both with his knife. After closing the drapes, Sy makes
the pair get in inappropriate positions on the bed, then proceeds to take pictures of them like
that while constantly degrading them and saying it's supposed to be a fun game. Once he's done, Sy
goes to his own room to wash and rest. However, a light at the window calls his attention: it's the
police siren. The detectives are coming for him after the receptionist confirms he's there, but
thanks to seeing the car outside, Sy gets to leave his room before the cops find him, although they
do find the knife and camera. Because there are guards at the main entrance too, Sy has to find
a different escape route, and he ends up running through the hotel's conference room and kitchen.
This eventually takes him through a corridor with an emergency door that activates an alarm when Sy
opens it, so by the time he makes it outside, the cops are there to catch him. As he is arrested, Sy
tells "he only took pictures" to James, while his partner finds Maya and Will having a breakdown in
their room. When Will returns home, Jake is very happy to see him, but Nina doesn't know what to
think. This takes us back to the beginning of the story, where Sy is still telling James everything
that has gone through his mind so far. Sy can tell James is a good father and husband that
appreciates his good fortune and wouldn't cheat on his wife. At first, it seems Sy is comparing
James to Will, but then he begins talking about a man that made horribles demands of his children,
implying his own father had used Sy and his siblings to take sick, inappropriate pictures
when they were just kids. Sy is incredibly angry because Will had it all, yet he threw it away,
meaning he isn't a good father either. James understands Sy better now and sees the trauma that
shaped this poor man into what he is now. Feeling pity for him, James decides to share the pictures
they developed from the camera they found at the hotel when Sy asks for them, even if they're
evidence. Surprisingly, they aren't the dirty pictures, they're just photos of random objects
from the hotel room, yet they help Sy imagine himself, once again, as part of Nina's family.