Intermission: Williams pulls off his best dramatic performance

Jim Wunderle is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

In the tradition of the "lonely man" formula perfected in such films as Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" and Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," first-time feature film director Mark Romanek hits a nerve with his utterly creepy, and at times terrifying, "One Hour Photo."

Robin Williams, despite having taken on serious roles in the past, is best known for his comedic bent, but here he gives the dramatic performance of his career as the lonesome, quietly psychotic Sy Parrish. He is known to his loyal customers at SavMart as Sy the Photo Guy.

Romanek, who also wrote the screenplay, comes to film by way of music videos. He's done his share of menacing, moody pieces before for artists such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. He's also directed videos for Madonna and kd lang.

Many of today's film directors started in the rock video world, but few have made the leap to the big screen with as much success and style as Romanek.

Romanek, ably assisted by cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, is able to create a perfect icy sterility in the SavMart store where Sy is employed, as well as gritty scenes of the real Sy and his picture-perfect family, the Yorkins.

Nina and Will Yorkin have been bringing their photos for Sy to develop for more than 10 years, and Sy has been living vicariously through them.

Through the photos he's processed, he's watched their young son, Jakob, grow and thinks of himself as "Uncle Sy."

He tells this to Nina one day, after arranging to bump into her at the food court. He tosses off the remark with a nervous laugh.

Nina thinks nothing of it, but we in the audience know that she should be afraid, very afraid.

When we first meet Parrish, we know that he just can't be as calm and collected as he seems to be on the surface. Slowly, and subtly, we begin to realize our suspicions are well-founded. Romanek and Williams bring an uncanny amount of realism to Sy, and as we dig deeper and deeper into his psyche, we become increasingly more ill at ease.

Little things begin falling into place, like the fact that when Nina brings in photos for processing, Sy always makes an extra set. When we see these displayed, we get the picture that Sy is not all there.

When another woman, Maya, brings in some photos, Sy gets quite upset with what he sees.

Maybe his perfectly happy family, the Yorkins, aren't as perfect or as happy as they appear to be in their snapshots. This is something Sy just can't handle. He likes his life ordered.

He ends up following Nina home one day and gets more upset when he sees that the Yorkins have their share of problems. Nina is unhappy, Will is seldom at home, and Sy knows where he spends a lot of time. He's got the photos to prove it.

One wonders how much trouble a guy with such a seemingly innocuous job could stir up for a family, and Sy gives us the proof that it can be plenty.

He "mistakenly" gives Nina a wrong set of prints one day, and lives begin to unravel.

Most of all, Sy's life.

Besides the Yorkins, the most important thing in his life is his job. And he is really good at it. The trouble is, his bubbling psychosis makes him an easy target for his annoying boss and the two face off, with Sy the loser. Then he really gets nutty.

Williams, who is sometimes as subtle as a sledgehammer, plays Sy with a good deal of restraint. He's been a bad guy in hisprevious two films, "Death to Smoochy" and "Insomnia," and is obviously getting good at it.

His killer in "Insomnia" was a high point, but he goes one better in "One Hour Photo."

While the ending left me somewhat confused, I think it's because I instinctively think Hollywood films, especially ones with big box-office stars such as Williams, tend to over explain things and to tie up every loose end.

Much to his credit, Romanek has gone against the Hollywood grain and for his debut as a motion picture director, has made a film that doesn't follow the usual formula.