|
By TERESSA
ELLIOTT
Robin Williams stars as Sy
Parrish -- the lonely manager of the
photo-printing department of a large store who
becomes obsessed with a family whose snapshots
he's developed for years.
Starting to see himself as a member of the family,
he eventually confuses his fantasy with reality
and the result is calamity and violence. The film
also stars Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, and
Dylan Smith as the mother, father and son of which
Sy's fantasies are made. Williams is perfect as
the creepy, yet sympathetic Sy and the film is
better suited to the intimacy of DVD than a movie
theatre screen. The creep factor builds as the
film reaches its climax and then a surprising note
of pity is discovered in the last couple reels.
The extras are good too: the short making-of
featurette, and the trailers and TV spots are the
usual filler, but the DVD also includes Williams
and director/writer Mark Romanek's "Charlie Rose"
show appearance (worth watching not just for the
discussion about the film, but Williams'
hilarious, off-the-cuff remarks), the Sundance
Channel "Anatomy of a Scene" (essentially a
making-of featurette, but a bit smarter and bit
more detailed) and a commentary with Williams and
Romanek (with a surprisingly low-keyed and
sometimes even hard to hear Williams). |
