Watch Seconds For Free

As Good As It Gets

A Masterpiece!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Unhappy middle-aged banker Arthur Hamilton (a sturdy and heartbreaking performance by John Randolph) strikes a deal with a mysterious and sinister organization that gives Hamilton a new lease on life by transforming him into handsome and successful artist Antiochus Wilson (superbly played by Rock Hudson). Director John Frankenheimer relates the gripping story at a deliberate pace, grounds the fantastic premise in a thoroughly plausible workaday reality, and skillfully crafts a strong and unsettling paranoid atmosphere. Lewis John Carlino's ingenious script smartly explores the themes of identity, the alluring, yet elusive potential that having a second chance at life offers, how all choices come with consequences, and the basic human need for both intimate emotional connection and the ability to be the master of one's own destiny. The fine acting by the topnotch cast rates as another substantial asset: Jeff Corey as friendly company bigwig Mr. Ruby, Will Geer as the ostensibly amiable, but quietly creepy old man who runs the whole show, Salome Jens as the sweet and vibrant Nora Marcus, Murray Hamilton as sly recruiter Charlie, Richard Anderson as coldblooded surgeon Dr. Innes, Wesley Addy as helpful servant John, Khigh Dhiegh as jolly psychiatrist Davalo, and Frances Reid as Hamilton's concerned, but long-suffering wife Emily. James Wong Howe's striking black and white cinematography presents a wealth of stunningly surreal and nightmarish visuals. Jerry Goldsmith's moody score hits the brooding spot, too. An excellent film.

The final chapter of director John Frankenheimer's paranoia trilogy (after THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962 and SEVEN DAYS IN MAY 1964), SECONDS posits the possibility of a second chance to start one's life with a clean slate, through proper plastic surgeries and a fake death, and our protagonist is a 51-year-old bank manager Arthur Hamilton (Randolph, cogently laying bare his ambivalence concerning the wacky proposition), who is consequentially, reborn as Tony Wilson (Hudson), assumes his hobbyhorse as an amateur painter, lives in his seaside studio and falls in with new female acquaintance. But soon his past catches up with him, because needless to say, plastic surgeries can only offer a new physiognomy and there is the conspicuous loophole in the undertaking if a reborn's previous memory wouldn't be obliterated, the promised new life would very probably ends up like Fata Morgana. With the missing link of amnesia, the story doesn't live up to the scrutiny of its intrinsic logic, for one thing, there is no clear justification of why Tony insists on taking another new identity in the third act, it is not the mutable outlook which hinders a reborn's fresh start, but some ingrain factors that cannot be modulated by surgeries, which renders Tony's desperate action arbitrary and its consequence moot. Also, the story heedfully skirts around the process of rejuvenation, Hudson is a decade younger than Randolph, so what special regiment does Arthur must undergo in order to attain the corporeal sea change (no liposuction is mentioned)? We would never know.Above-mentioned gripes aside, SECONDS is commendable even it is solely for the avant-garde monochromatic cinematography from Hollywood doyen James Wong Howe (justly accorded with an Oscar nomination even the film was tanked upon its release), his camera angles are often oddly askew and heightened close-ups are put into extensive use in conveying through a distorted point-of-view that something is terribly amiss, underpinned by Jerry Goldsmith's mind-bending incidental music, together they constitute a sterling oracular-and-aural combo to stagger the audience witless. Rock Hudson, mining his own faculty in a genre he rarely sinks his teeth into, stoutly brings about a sympathetic commitment to the downward spiral of Tony's mental agony on top of the tall-tale's ineffectual effort to purport its legitimacy, and a grace note is the sign-of-the-times grape-stomping hippie frolic when Tony whiles away time with Nora Marcus (a mettlesome Salome Jens) in his ephemeral embrace of euphoria, which only to be dashed a moment later, to ascertain that living the life of Riley has its insurmountable underside, a mythos forcibly culminated in its preposterous finale (a lingering question is why Tony cannot just decamp and live somewhere else afresh?), for what it is worth, SECONDS is erring on the side of its cautionary-tale tantalization to mire its protagonist in the venal corporation whereas ostensibly astute alternatives are conveniently on tap elsewhere.

The opening scene of John Frankenheimer's massively overlooked thriller Seconds follows everyman Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) as he ushers along a familiar railway station seemingly heading to another day at work. Through Frankenheimer and Oscar-nominated cinematographer James Wong Howe's eyes, this is our world but not quite as we know it, but how a lot of us will no doubt feel it. Obscure camera angles and extreme close-ups invoke a deep sense of paranoia, like someone is subtly observing from afar while the walls of our world feel like they're closing in. The man looks like the kind of pod-person Mad Men depicted so well, but who is he and where is he going? Eventually the man is handed a note from a stranger baring an address.Seconds is the last and least well-known of John Frankenheimer's so- called 'paranoia trilogy', which began with The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and was followed by Seven Days in May (1964). Paranoid thrillers of the highest quality, Seconds is arguably the best. Dismissed by the majority of critics and unseen by audiences upon its release in 1966, it has been frequently re-evaluated over the years but has never achieved the level of recognition is surely deserves. It tries to answer the questions no doubt pondered by many middle-aged men caught up in the mundaneness of modern life, of what it would be like to be offered a clean slate - to change your appearance, be given the money to conquer your goals, and have your former self completely removed from the world. Will you achieve happiness and live the life you have always desired, free from the constraints of marriage and a 9 to 5 lifestyle? Or will you simply make the same mistakes as before?Arthur Hamilton is contacted by an old friend he believed to be long dead, who tempts his old school buddy into a radical - and highly secretive - procedure that will transform him into a completely different person. Arthur cannot resist and visits the address he was handed by the stranger, and is soon transformed into a handsome and younger man, and is given a new name, Antiochus Wilson (played by a career-best Rock Hudson). Arthur's death is faked and he is whisked off to a warmer climate, where a swanky new pad and the tools to pursue his dream life as an artist await him. Is this life-changing reset merely covering up the underlying cracks deep within in his soul? Antiochus is soon indulging in trendy cocktail parties and the attentions of neighbour Nora (Salome Jens), but as the drinks are consumed his old self starts to bubble over.Although he only appears around the hour mark, Hudson is nothing short of mesmerising here. Retained his handsome features but gaining a world-weariness, the man best known for his screwball comedies seems to perfect fit to play a man hiding his true self, given the double- life he was forced to lead to improve his public image and which eventually damaged his career. Wilson's drunken antics during a long party segment of the film are filled with pity and embarrassment, and it's here that Frankenheimer starts to lose his grip on the story. The narrative sags, but it only adds to the whole disorienting experience. Though technically a thriller, Seconds also works well as a horror, hiding the surgeons ready with their scalpels behind thick walls and shrouding the organisation offering the services in secrecy. Deserving of far more respect in the world of cinema, Seconds is a disturbing and depressing experience, but one that is drenched in irony, featuring one of the most unsettling closing lines I've ever heard.

At some point, everybody takes a good look at their lives and wants to change something about it. Maybe you're unhappy with your job. Maybe you wish you could have a hotter girlfriend. Maybe you're worried that life is passing you by, and you want to be young again and live it up some more. Maybe it's time to reinvent yourself. In this film, a guy reinvents himself to rectify all of these things. The big twist is, he does so with the help of an ominous and mysterious corporation.This film has a pretty interesting premise. Combined with its style, it comes off as a fairly gripping thriller; there is a sense of anxiety that permeates key scenes and keeps you wondering what will happen next. The film drags in just a few spots (mostly in the middle), but it is interesting and sobering to watch this guy go through an artificial rebirth and live a second life.The story is pretty well-structured. The momentum sputters a bit in the middle, as the character wanders around in his new body and figures things out. However, the set-up and conclusion are solid, and the characters overall are fairly well-developed. Above all, this is a film that boldly holds a mirror up to the 1960s culture and shows a rather eerie reflection. I could see it as the man's transformation mirroring the transformation of culture, moving from the conservative 50s to the radical free-loving 60s counter-culture movements, but the film makes it out to be a total nightmare. As such, the film challenges the notion that people have to be young and successful to be happy. It also puts a pretty ominous spin on corporations, using people like putty to shape them into whatever they determine, all for the sole purpose of making money.The film is phenomenal, for it boasts some incredible photography. There are a ton of wild and unusual camera angles, many of which seem less like what you'd find in the 60s and more like what you'd see in modern films (especially when the camera tracks a person's head or body, keeping it still while the background moves; that is very much the same kind of thing you get with webcams, which many modern movies use, and I think it's an awesome achievement for Seconds). Camera moves are especially fluid and interesting. Editing is really great, especially with some of the more surreal scenes. Acting and writing are impeccable. This production has some great-looking sets, props, and costumes. The music score is pretty effective too.Despite a few slow parts, Seconds is a bold film with a bold style and a ton of bold messages. I'd gladly recommend it to anybody.4.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Perfect)