OHP looks into the life of Sy (Robin Williams), a 1-hour photo specialist. Over several years time, Sy becomes obsessed with his regular customers, the Yorkins. Sy learns more about them by talking to them and by covertly examining their developed photos. Sy yearns for the Yorkins' life (as portrayed through the smiling faces on their photos) so much that he starts making more and more effort to be a part of it. When Sy learns of Mr. Yorkins adultery, he begins to spiral further out of touch with reality.
ACTING: Robin Williams makes one of his most notable performances in portraying Sy as asexual, perpetually reserved, and quirky. Gary Cole (Bill Owens) is good as the impersonal micro-manager who ends up firing Sy, without even knowing what Sy's job is. Eriq La Salle (Detective James Van Der Zee), like his 'E.R.' television series performance (as Dr. Peter Benton), comes across with strong presence, making a good detective.
PLOT: The beginning of OHP has a slow building in tension where you aren't sure where things are going, and sometimes you feel a bit bored. As the plot unfolds, things ramp up in a very natural progression, and we never feel that the tension has been artificially pumped up. We feel for Sy in his attempts to have people in his life, even though he contrived some of them. Even though some plot points were predictable, you never felt that things were staged just to keep them unpredictable. Two plot points failed (in a minor way). When Sy is fired, he is allowed to work out the rest of the week. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen anymore, not even with long-term employees like Sy. In another minor misfire, Sy's ending reveals his abuse as a child as his motivation for his involvement with the Yorkins. It would have worked much better to put clues along the way so we could see Sy's character develop rather than springing it on us in the end.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Excellent use of color (and lack thereof) give most of the movie the stark, lonely feel that mirrors how Sy feels. At the end of a workday, Sy walks alone through an empty parking lot lit by yellow-orange sodium lights that become almost green for the camera.
MUSIC: The music added well to the theme and pace of the movie.
CONCLUSION: OHP is an unconventional thriller which tries with good success to open the mind of someone who is out of touch with reality. I liked the movie and would watch it again.
ACTING: Robin Williams makes one of his most notable performances in portraying Sy as asexual, perpetually reserved, and quirky. Gary Cole (Bill Owens) is good as the impersonal micro-manager who ends up firing Sy, without even knowing what Sy's job is. Eriq La Salle (Detective James Van Der Zee), like his 'E.R.' television series performance (as Dr. Peter Benton), comes across with strong presence, making a good detective.
PLOT: The beginning of OHP has a slow building in tension where you aren't sure where things are going, and sometimes you feel a bit bored. As the plot unfolds, things ramp up in a very natural progression, and we never feel that the tension has been artificially pumped up. We feel for Sy in his attempts to have people in his life, even though he contrived some of them. Even though some plot points were predictable, you never felt that things were staged just to keep them unpredictable. Two plot points failed (in a minor way). When Sy is fired, he is allowed to work out the rest of the week. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen anymore, not even with long-term employees like Sy. In another minor misfire, Sy's ending reveals his abuse as a child as his motivation for his involvement with the Yorkins. It would have worked much better to put clues along the way so we could see Sy's character develop rather than springing it on us in the end.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Excellent use of color (and lack thereof) give most of the movie the stark, lonely feel that mirrors how Sy feels. At the end of a workday, Sy walks alone through an empty parking lot lit by yellow-orange sodium lights that become almost green for the camera.
MUSIC: The music added well to the theme and pace of the movie.
CONCLUSION: OHP is an unconventional thriller which tries with good success to open the mind of someone who is out of touch with reality. I liked the movie and would watch it again.