With 'The Substance' and 'A Different Man' opening this weekend, the influence of Frankenheimer's grim cult classic about a man switching to a younger identity looms large.
Now me very intrigued to check out Seconds. And this review also brought to mind that show where Paul Rudd has to live with new-and-improved clone of self, which me had completely forgotten about until just now.
I was so disappointed when they canceled that show. It was quite charming and ended with the guy escaping and returning to his family. Not quite the loss I felt with the cancellation of “Firefly,” but it’s still up there for me.
If anything, the Tom Brady cameo where he comes out of the facility looking "refreshed" (shades of the controversy over his friend and Patriots owner Bob Kraft getting into his own trouble at a, eh, erm... "new age" treatment facility) ought to have been a boon, but yeah, totally forgotten, what? Two years later?
@Cookie_Monster You’ll appreciate seeing Salome Jens without a *
literal mask, and the scene where her emotional one comes close to breaking is one of the best in the film (Frankenheimer said he cast her because she seemed like an “omen of death,” and the way her performance mixes intimacy and distance is really impressive).
Really happy that I ended up seeing this for the first time on the big screen when the Hollywood screened it a couple of years ago. I had avoided any significant spoilers — though honestly it's not hard to figure out where the movie is going.
Apparently I wasn't as taken with the California sequence, but this is making me hanker for a rewatch and I'll have to reconsider.
SECONDS is one of my favorite films and — along with THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE — the one by Frankenheimer I’ve revisited the most. I highly recommend listening to Frankenheimer’s commentary, which Criterion was good enough to port over from an earlier DVD release. His commentaries are always good, but his insights into SECONDS (including the foibles of shooting a major motion picture in your own house — Frankenheimer’s standing in for Tony Wilson’s) are essential.
I think I discovered “Seconds” through one of Danny Peary’s cult movie books. Watched it when it was made available on VHS and now have it on DVD. I compare it to “It’s a Wonderful Life” cause one guy finds out what it would be like if he’d never been born while the other finds out what it’s like to be reborn as someone else. Needless to say, one ends up being a feel-good movie and the other is not.
This is fascinating and I'm going to make a point to watch Seconds along with The Substance and A Different Man, but I may need to follow this dark binge with an All of Me chaser.
I remember when we screened this during Fall Quarter of 1993. The TA teaching my Lit class that quarter came to see it.
Now me very intrigued to check out Seconds. And this review also brought to mind that show where Paul Rudd has to live with new-and-improved clone of self, which me had completely forgotten about until just now.
Also the series Now and Again from the early 2000s, where John Goodman gets refurbished as Eric Close.
I was so disappointed when they canceled that show. It was quite charming and ended with the guy escaping and returning to his family. Not quite the loss I felt with the cancellation of “Firefly,” but it’s still up there for me.
If anything, the Tom Brady cameo where he comes out of the facility looking "refreshed" (shades of the controversy over his friend and Patriots owner Bob Kraft getting into his own trouble at a, eh, erm... "new age" treatment facility) ought to have been a boon, but yeah, totally forgotten, what? Two years later?
@Cookie_Monster You’ll appreciate seeing Salome Jens without a *
literal mask, and the scene where her emotional one comes close to breaking is one of the best in the film (Frankenheimer said he cast her because she seemed like an “omen of death,” and the way her performance mixes intimacy and distance is really impressive).
Really happy that I ended up seeing this for the first time on the big screen when the Hollywood screened it a couple of years ago. I had avoided any significant spoilers — though honestly it's not hard to figure out where the movie is going.
Apparently I wasn't as taken with the California sequence, but this is making me hanker for a rewatch and I'll have to reconsider.
SECONDS is one of my favorite films and — along with THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE — the one by Frankenheimer I’ve revisited the most. I highly recommend listening to Frankenheimer’s commentary, which Criterion was good enough to port over from an earlier DVD release. His commentaries are always good, but his insights into SECONDS (including the foibles of shooting a major motion picture in your own house — Frankenheimer’s standing in for Tony Wilson’s) are essential.
Nice digs, BTW.
They certainly are.
I think I discovered “Seconds” through one of Danny Peary’s cult movie books. Watched it when it was made available on VHS and now have it on DVD. I compare it to “It’s a Wonderful Life” cause one guy finds out what it would be like if he’d never been born while the other finds out what it’s like to be reborn as someone else. Needless to say, one ends up being a feel-good movie and the other is not.
I compared it to IAWL in my Letterboxd review from 2021! It's an intriguing pairing.
Really?! I had no idea anyone else paired those films together! I’d love to read your review.
Well, I can do that: https://boxd.it/2i5AP3
I chose to watch this with my 14 year old sister which was not a great family movie choice.
I thought it was really good though!
This is fascinating and I'm going to make a point to watch Seconds along with The Substance and A Different Man, but I may need to follow this dark binge with an All of Me chaser.