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Our life is full of choices; since we have use of reason until the day we die. Where to go, what to study, who to marry, where to work... and we make some thinking that if things go wrong, we can always go back and "fix things". But there are choices we can't go back to, and we just have to move forward, wherever it takes us. That is part of the basis of this psychological sci-fi thriller from John Frankenheimer.
Seconds follows a middle-aged banker that feels unfulfilled in his life, only to be approached by a company that offers him the chance to start a new life with a new identity through plastic surgery. What if you had that chane? Will you take it? After becoming "Tony Wilson" (Rock Hudson), the man realizes that it's not that easy to move forward and cut your ties to your past life.
This was a really interesting film that in some ways plays like an unsettling sci-fi thriller, but in many others presents a thought-provoking and more psychologically driven look at how we live our lives, and the choices we make through it. If we knew there was no turning back, would we make the same choices?
One of the strengths of the film is Frankenheimer's direction, which is claustrophobic and oppressive. Regardless of the persona that Wilson is under, you can feel that he's never entirely free to move back or forward. "They made the decisions for me all over again", he says as he gets to another threshold in his life.
Casually, this year I've seen more Rock Hudson films than I had seen before (which was zero!) and this is actually the best I've seen him in. Plus, knowing the details of his life, you can't help but wonder the amount of "realism" in his performance as we see his character question the way he has lived his life, and the pretensions he has been forced to live with.
Grade:
SECONDS
(1966, Frankenheimer)
Freebie
(1966, Frankenheimer)
Freebie
"Isn't it easier to go forward when you know you can't go back?"
Our life is full of choices; since we have use of reason until the day we die. Where to go, what to study, who to marry, where to work... and we make some thinking that if things go wrong, we can always go back and "fix things". But there are choices we can't go back to, and we just have to move forward, wherever it takes us. That is part of the basis of this psychological sci-fi thriller from John Frankenheimer.
Seconds follows a middle-aged banker that feels unfulfilled in his life, only to be approached by a company that offers him the chance to start a new life with a new identity through plastic surgery. What if you had that chane? Will you take it? After becoming "Tony Wilson" (Rock Hudson), the man realizes that it's not that easy to move forward and cut your ties to your past life.
This was a really interesting film that in some ways plays like an unsettling sci-fi thriller, but in many others presents a thought-provoking and more psychologically driven look at how we live our lives, and the choices we make through it. If we knew there was no turning back, would we make the same choices?
One of the strengths of the film is Frankenheimer's direction, which is claustrophobic and oppressive. Regardless of the persona that Wilson is under, you can feel that he's never entirely free to move back or forward. "They made the decisions for me all over again", he says as he gets to another threshold in his life.
Casually, this year I've seen more Rock Hudson films than I had seen before (which was zero!) and this is actually the best I've seen him in. Plus, knowing the details of his life, you can't help but wonder the amount of "realism" in his performance as we see his character question the way he has lived his life, and the pretensions he has been forced to live with.
Grade: