Robin Williams is mentally unbalanced. Or at least that is what he would have us believe after three successive, disturbing roles this year alone. In his most recent, One Hour Photo, William plays his most poignant and sympathetic role since his portrayal of professor John Keating in the modern classic, Dead Poet's Society.

In Photo, the versatile Williams plays Seymour Parrish, better known as Sy, the photo guy. Sy is a lonely photo developer at the local SavMart who survives his humble existence by living vicariously through the photos his customers bring in. We are treated to a running commentary by Sy, allowing us to empathize with his thoughts and wanting to justify his erratic actions along the way.

But immediately we know something is not quite right with Sy. He sits in his empty apartment watching episodes of The Simpsons stone-faced and gets all too happy when he takes home his customers extra prints.

Things turn from saddening to unsettling when Sy gets himself too wrapped up in a fantasy involving a seemingly perfect customer family. After learning a dark secret of the Yorkin family, Sy takes it upon himself to rectify the situation, believing that it will also help bring himself closer into their world.

The film will leave most viewers feeling quite uncomfortable during the film as Sy begins his creepy downward spiral towards stalking the Yorkin family. The over-dramatic score occasionally pulls the viewer out of the moment, but is balanced by the super sleek cinematography of Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club). Cronenweth musters all his visionary power to successfully exemplify Sy's solitude, including a wonderfully startling dream sequence involving a terrified Sy in an endless room.

The film's barren locales (especially Sy's sparsely furnished apartment) give each scene the sterile feel of a photo lab's processing room.

The film is not flawless however. The three members of the Yorkin family are rather boring characters but luckily don't get enough screen time to hurt the rest of the film.

The film does sport a few surprisingly good supporting roles played by Gary Cole (Office Space) and Eriq LaSalle of formerly of ER (interestingly enough, ER creator John Wells was an executive producer for the film).

Sy's motives are clear by the end, yet his actions are hard to understand, even for a deranged, lonely middle-aged man. Williams' performance borders on overacting à la Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, with recurring mannerisms such as constantly adjusting his glasses and repetitive facial expressions. Fortunately, he reserves himself just enough to allow us to pity Sy for the tortured human being he is.

In the end, the film is not a stalker story with a tragic end, but a melancholy character piece about the basic human drive to be loved and accepted. Williams plans to take a break from his gloomy film streak for a while, but One Hour Photo will keep audiences hoping to see the thespian return to dark roles again. Williams creates a want in us to see more stories about the softer, sadder sides of countless other tragically-flawed characters just like Sy.