Seconds: John Frankenheimer

John Frankenheimer's Seconds is a film that I am finding quite difficult to describe. I've thought of dozens of ways that I could begin this review, but none of them seem to work. Why? The simple reason is that it has been a long, long time since a film has stunned me so thoroughly. Seconds is one of those films that takes you so violently by surprise that it lingers in the back of your mind like a festering wound. In the past few days it has invaded my dreams, permeated my waking moments, and forced me to radically re-examine my thoughts concerning the evolution of cinema. Here is a film so ahead of its time that it resembles an impossible evolutionary jump akin to a single-celled amoeba sprouting a pair of opposable thumbs. It predicts the works of Philip K. Dick, imagining a world controlled by unseen, inescapable forces. Its depiction of bodily modifications are disturbing and nearly proto-Cronenbergian. It asks questions concerning personal identity, existential angst, and the definitions of happiness and freedom years before they would become the norm in science-fiction cinema. It all starts with Arthur Hamilton, a middle-aged businessman experiencing a mid-life crisis who gets a phone call from Charlie Evans, a friend long thought dead. It turns out that Charlie had become a client of a mysterious organization known as the "Company" which seeks to help unhappy businessmen escape from their dull lives. They do so by faking their clients' deaths with a modified cadaver, giving them radical plastic surgery, and providing them false ID's so they can literally start a new life. Essentially, the "Company" runs a Witness-Protection-Program for the rich and bored. After much hesitation, Arthur agrees to be given a new identity. His plastic surgery transforms him into an entirely new man (played by Rock Hudson in the performance of his career). He begins a new life in Malibu where he pretends to be an artist. But Arthur begins to regret his choice and wants to go back to his old life. Unfortunately, the "Company" can't and won't let that happen. There are several reasons why Seconds is a magnificent film, but I want to focus on three. First, the story is marvelously original and engrossing. Second, Hudson's performance should be the thing of legend. I say that it should be a thing of legend because the film was widely ignored by audiences who were too used to seeing Hudson in Sirkian melodramas. And third, Frankenheimer practically invented a new cinematic vocabulary with Seconds. The film is dominated by claustrophobic close-ups and unsteady cameras. In a way, it predicts the rise of the Steadicam. All of these things make Seconds a great movie. It deserves...no...NEEDS to be seen.

10/10