Seconds Reviews

Indubitably the most prophetic cinematic vision of John Frankenheimer's notable period as a Hollywood director, "Seconds" is the culmination of his preoccupation with contemporary thought and political situation. Disregarded at the time of its release in 1966, the film's formidable, unflinching exploration of the murky, salacious recesses of the swinging sixties, psychedelia subculture and wish fulfilment was perhaps too vicious and scathing in its attack. Subversive and single-minded in its pessimistic view of the 1960s, "Seconds" takes aim at McCarthyism, industrial and military expansion, but most of all, technological advancement in all its uncontrollable superiority and underestimated immensity. Such explicit conspiratorial and science fiction elements take centre stage as the plot progresses; a middle-aged, dissatisfied executive is contacted by a supposedly dead friend who urges him to visit a shady organisation offering him a new life. Upon being surgically transformed into a younger, handsome Malibu painter, whose name was taken from a recently deceased man, a bogus death is arranged for his own identity and he enters a community of others who have been persuaded to acquire the Company's shrouded and furtive services.

"Seconds" surveys the folly of man, as well as rejection of conformity, desertion of personal responsibility and defiance of conventionality. Frankenheimer presents the audience with the disastrous repercussions of aforesaid imprudence if one is given the opportunity to contravene unwritten protocols and simply alter our defined physical appearance to somehow experience a much improved perspective of life with possibly different outcomes. In jettisoning the past and thoughtlessly seeking out new horizons, the Kafkaesque nightmare at the film's core unveils the perils of augmentation and altered consciousness; positing autonomy over one's life and body is ill-advised, a frightening prospect that should serve you well in the event of undergoing any procedure, cosmetic or otherwise. Enhanced by distorted, off-kilter imagery, sociopolitical themes and underscored by a chilling ambience, Frankenheimer's capturing of the zeitgeist here is unlike any other film showcasing the paranoiac sensibilities of the time, critical of capitalism and the pervading belief that success is the zenith of life, and the terrifying truth that big business will provide anything if there is enough demand for it. "Seconds" is deeply affecting whilst being starkly portentous of escapism and incriminating of certain aspects of the American dream, and ergo, it is more than simply the concluding part of Frankenheimer's politically astute thrillers, otherwise known as the paranoiac trilogy. It is his masterpiece, a scornful, shattering and shockingly prescient portrayal of vitality and application of knowledge being at the forefront of society's obsession with gratification, reward and consumerism, which in turn leads to manipulation bordering on a Faustian pact without the surety of pleasure.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Fundamental to the pervasive, foreboding atmosphere, and palpable in every shot, is James Wong Howe's photography, which inculcates the improbabilities of the story by constructing a dream-like sense of topsy-turvy confusion and distress, thus aiding the flow and suspense of the narrative. Frankenheimer's marked intelligence lends the film an air of sophistication and earnestness within its science fiction bent, stylistic flourishes and polemic opinions. As disorienting as the visuals and thematics are, the cinematic features of the film are on par with its breadth of ideas, maximising and accenting the modern Prometheus concept with underlying assaults on capitalism, consumerism and industrialisation. "Seconds" ponders the notion of beauty, art and sex being more appealing than tangible success, as well as the possibility that humanity is as much a commodity as any other item. Frankenheimer's most haunting, fully realised work takes a decidedly dim view of post-war America and the modern age of superficiality, personnel, commerce and commodification, but in a callous world in which bodies are utilised and the soul is not resurrected as part of a second life, it becomes clear that this terrible process is not without unpleasant side effects and catastrophic consequences, and therein lies the film's greatest achievement: its intricately woven threads of possibility and allusions to reality. Angst-ridden, grim and moody, "Seconds" succeeds in adding weight and credibility to its seemingly surreal premise. Frankenheimer's deft direction and Wong Howe's caliginous aesthetic combine to create ironies, metaphors and motifs, securing the film's status as a fervent, socially conscious thriller yet to be matched in terms of momentum, intensity, plausibility, and the brutal, lasting power of its desolating and utterly unsparing final scene.