7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
Sy, a disturbed and unbalanced photo-development technician with a sad history, becomes obsessed with a picture-perfect suburban family whose personal photographs he develops.
Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, Erin DanielsPsychological thriller | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
German: DTS 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
German: DTS 5.1 (768 kbps, 48kHz, 24-bit) / Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
English SDH, German, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Think hard—when was the last time you dropped off a roll of 35mm film at a photo lab for processing and prints? It's probably been close to a decade,
as digital cameras first outsold film models around 2003. For a lot of people, even the idea of getting prints made from digital files off of a memory card
seems quaint, especially now that smartphones take and export photos directly to those twin repositories of social oversharing, Facebook and
Instagram. Our present concept of "privacy"—and the way we interact with our snapshots—is totally different than it was in 2002, when music video
director Mark Romanek made his second feature film, One Hour Photo, a stark psycho-thriller about obsession, idealization, and the rot in the
walls of the American Dream.
Viewed in 2013, the movie does feel somewhat dated—technologically and culturally—but it's perhaps even eerier now precisely because it illustrates
how we've since lost a sense of sanctity about images of our lives. Where once we'd break out physical photo albums to share with close friends after
dinner, now total strangers can creep though our online feeds, anonymously observing—and silently judging—our drunken nights out and beach
vacation bikinis, our kids' birthday parties and the coffee/scone combo we had for breakfast, all artificially antiqued with filters meant to turn each pic
into a miniature work of ephemeral art.
One Hour Photo's 1080p/AVC-encoded Blu-ray debut is somewhat disappointing from a visual standpoint, as it looks so obviously sourced from an old transfer/master. Black and white specks occasionally dot the print—there's been no significant digital cleanup here—and worse, many scenes suffer from what looks like telecine jitter, with the image shaking slightly but very noticeably inside the frame. This isn't camera shake; it's actually most visible during static, locked-down shots that should be still. Furthermore, while film grain is intact—there's been no DNR smearing, although the tell-tale signs of edge enhancement are occasionally visible—it's very heavy, suggesting that what we're watching was probably not made from an original photochemically finished print, but a dupe that's once or twice removed. Clarity is a clear improvement from standard definition picture quality, with closeups that reveal much more fine detail, but on the whole, the image is still rather soft, especially in longer shots. Color fares better, with Romanek's timing choices—the stark whites of Savmart, the warm woody tones of the Yorkin home, the depressing beige of Sy's apartment—looking true to the presumed intent. Overall, I'm almost positive the film could look better given a proper remaster.
On the other hand, the film's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is free of any age or source-related issues and sounds excellent, with great fullness and clarity. Considering the minimal level of out-and-out action in the film, the sound design isn't incredibly intricate or immersive, but the mix nails the basics. Dialogue, most importantly, is always clear and easy to understand—no muffling, pops, or peaking—and although the track is very front-heavy, effects-wise, there is some appreciable ambience in the rear channels. The back speakers are most often used as bleeding room for the music by Reinhold Heil and Jonny Klimek—the guys who scored Run Lola Run—which is heavy on minor key piano arpeggios and seething string lines. The most striking aspect of the track, though, is the loud, surging subwoofer usage, rumbling below many scenes to underscore the tension. The disc also includes Spanish, French, and German dubs, along with English SDH, Spanish, and German subtitles. There are even English and German subtitles for Romanek and Robin Williams' audio commentary.
The film's Blu-ray debut contains all the material from the prior DVD release, along with several new extras curated by Mark Romanek himself. In the "extras" menu, the supplements are broken down by pre-production, production, and post-production:
A lot has changed about personal photography since One Hour Photo debuted in 2002. We're less private with our photos, for one, and with the advent of Instagram, Sy's assertion that most people don't take snapshots of the little things—"the used Band-Aid, the guy at the gas station, the wasp on the Jell-O"—rings false, disproved by thousands upon thousands of photos of latte foam and half-eaten sandwiches and other mildly interesting bits of daily minutiae. Still, the film is maybe more terrifying now because it's not only the photo lab guy who has access to these moments we find important enough to capture anymore; anyone with an internet connection can spy in our lives, observing us with jealousy or derision, admiration or contempt. (Or indifference, which is what it usually comes down to.) If you haven't seen it in a while, One Hour Photo is certainly worth revisiting. 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray is somewhat disappointing from a picture quality perspective—you get the feeling the film could look a lot better with a proper remaster—but the disc includes some excellent special features that were never before available on home video, swinging this release into the purchase- worthy category.
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