one hour photo

I just finished watching the movie One Hour Photo.

It’s one of those movies that make you think. Think of how sad and lonely it would be to live your life alone. Think of how much you can only wish you were part of a family, and more so if that one family were picture-perfect. Think of how some individuals can only sit at the back and miss out on life as they had always been pushed away, or abandoned and forgotten. Now, if only those fortunate people, those who have a happy family, knew how to appreciate the treasures that had been bestowed to them, for everyone else can only sit back and merely wish they could be just like that.

Can you imagine what it would be like to see that picture-perfect family shattered? For one who had watched the family grow, it can only be frustrating and sad. To see that one treasure which is your private joy, to the extent that you would do anything to be in it; you would do anything to keep it that way. And one day, you learn that the perfect picture you have always loved was about to be torn apart. You would want to scream, ‘You have it all, but you’re throwing it all away.’ If possible, you would want to try and fix it. But who are you to meddle into other’s affairs?

While watching it, I could really put myself in Sy’s shoes, his longing, his frustration, everything that goes through his mind as the plot unravels itself. Brilliant on this end~ my hats off to you, crew! XD

Part of me screams, “Blardy twisted stalker!” but the other part of it justifies it; he’s just a harmless and lonely old man. Furthermore, he would never hurt anyone. To him, they are his ‘family’. Or to be politically correct, they are the closest thing to a family he will ever get. But he’s hurt by the sense that Will is throwing everything he had ever had, which also is probably the best thing that anyone could ever want in their lives, into jeopardy by cheating on his wife.

Somehow this idea of cheating on partners is very common no matter where you go. Not only in Western countries, the East is catching up too. What the heck is wrong with these people?

And so, to exact revenge on Will’s irresponsible action, Sy decides to act on his own. I suppose to put Sy on the side of justice, to give them some really bitter medicine. I just hope he set their brains right too – cheating = bad+painful! >(

But I suppose what really happened in the end was that he couldn’t bring himself to kill Will or whatever sick thing his angry impulse would have told him to do. Even in the midst of his torrential anger, when on a whim could kill anyone, he could not force Will to bend to it, as much as he had wanted to. It would hurt himself even more in the end, and being the only few people he had truly cared for, he couldn’t do it. For that alone, you can really see the father in Sy.

I like his attention on what he calls ‘the little things of life.’ Pay attention to your surroundings; they are a part of your life, and later, your memory. What was ‘the abandoned garage’ or ‘the big tree in the park’ will soon cease to exist in reality, and only be apparent in your memory. In a photo, you capture that split second that will bring back your memory. Like assigning letters to a filing cabinet, photos are a form of memory retrieval. For every photo will result in an instant replay of the moment in real-time, and everything else that came along with it, right down to the most minute of details. That’s what I feel.