'PHOTO' EXPOSES WILLIAMS' ARTISTRY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

Finally, a stalker thriller with heart.

Not that that would matter so much if ``One Hour Photo'' did not also develop fine performances, a nerve-permeating creepiness and an abundance of clever visual, aural and film-reference tricks. But indeed, the most distinguishing trait of writer-director Mark Romanek's sure-footed debut feature is its surprising sympathy for a disturbed individual that even the best psycho movies - and we're including ``Psycho'' in the discussion here - consistently reduce to mere monsters.

This makes for refreshing narrative surprises, about which no more will be said here. But there is a lot to say about Robin Williams' beautifully controlled, unsettling and very, very intelligent performance as Seymour Parrish, the dedicated development technician at a suburban Savmart's quick-and-cheap photo lab. Called Sy by all (but like most of the details in this subtly obsessive film, his full name tells us something about him), the colorless but color quality-fixated, lonely schlub is liked and instantly forgotten by all.

Until, of course, glitches in the picture perfection of his all-consuming job and fantasy life push him outside the frame.

For years, Sy has secretly been making extra copies of the snaps the superficially ideal Yorkin family has been bringing to him, and fantasizing himself part of the pleasing unit. Nice mom Nina (Connie Nielsen) and lively young boy Jakob (Dylan Smith) turn out to be about as good as Sy imagined. But as evidence mounts that standoffish dad Will (Michael Vartan) does not appreciate his fortunate home as much as Sy figures he should, the developer loses his tight but tenuous grip, and determines to teach the ungrateful family man a lesson.

With an astonishing instinct for exactly when to turn up or tone down the unbalanced Sy's volume, Williams proves once and for all that over-the-top isn't the only way he knows how to play. He keeps Sy so quietly seething, so deceptively pleasant and then lets loose in such finely judged increments that he delivers more dread with a slight cocking of his head than most actors do in flaring-eyed, drooling frenzy.

Williams did something along these lines earlier this year in ``Insomnia.'' But while that may have been a more resonant piece than this one, his was a supporting role in it. ``One Hour Photo'' is almost entirely Sy's show, giving Williams a much larger canvas to fill. He does so with such expert strokes that it makes ``Photo's'' few flaws seem even less substantial than they are.

But they are there, and they would be a rather pat (but still funny) satire of the soul-deadening effect of mass discount consumerism and a too- simple explanation for why Sy became the way he is.

But the canny craft that Romanek, one of the more artful music video and TV commercial directors, brings to the proceedings more than makes up for any script weaknesses. The movie is a film buff's holiday. Naturally enough, smartly distorted echoes of ``Rear Window'' reverberate throughout the scenario. But Romanek also astutely borrows riffs from such disparate sources as ``The Wizard of Oz'' and ``Proof,'' a close Australian cousin to ``One Hour,'' to amusing effect.

Up-and-coming cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (``Fight Club,'' ``K-19'') lends a touch of minimalist surrealism to every shot, while the score by Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek (``Run Lola Run'') has a way of loading subconscious menace into what would otherwise be background Muzak. It's like we're hearing Sy's subconscious soul playing on the soundtrack.

All in all, ``One Hour Photo'' is an outstanding showcase for both the veteran star and the rookie filmmaker. In this case, the camera really doesn't lie.

ONE HOUR PHOTO - Three and one half stars

(R: nudity, language, mild violence)

Starring: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith, Gary Cole, Eriq La Salle, Erin Daniels.

Director: Mark Romanek.

Running time: 1 hr. 38 min.

Playing: Regent, Westwood; the Grove, L.A.

In a nutshell: Superbly creepy and surprisingly fresh stalker thriller, featuring a great, restrained Robin Williams performance.