The Identity Horror of Seconds
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- In today's video we are looking at the 1966 horror film Seconds starring Rock Hudson, and how it deals with topics of ageing, artistic frustration, and depression. Thanks for watching!
Email: inpraiseofshadows1:gmail.com
Twitter: / praise_shadows
Patreon: / praiseofshadows
Hey everybody, hope you've been well. Thanks for watching this one, I hope you liked it. I'm going to be making a view videos like this one that focus on single movies in the next few weeks and maybe one on a comic as well. I'm starting to put together something fun for the Halloween season coming up also so I'm excited for that. Stay safe, and I will see you next time!
Another awesome video!!!!
Have watched Noriko's Dinner Table? It's a pretty interesting take on this sortof story. Not a horror movie really, but it plays a lot with the themes you were talking about.
I wish you would do the remake, Hollywood needs you!
I don't see how the wife's feelings or the business of the company matter in a narrative about a single person's(the protagonist's) depression when in its nature ignores the feelings and matters of others
Really great video, i really liked it, hope you are doing well!
Also this is where all the dads that went out to get some 'milk' went.
This film would actually be good for a reboot
Good thing my dad knows I HATE milk.
@@KaylaNoelle1 Homelander would cry
You're more right than you know
Lol
I love seeing people discuss old films but really analyzing them, and not just over glorifying them or discussing their "influence" in a very vague way. Fantastic video
Rating a movie based on its influence instead of on its own merits is so stupid. Like all those lists of top ten best () and then they’ll mentioned this is number one for being the most influential!
@@mrana2424 i hate that so much. All I care about is if the reviewer liked it or not/an analysis like this one. Influence ranking during a subjective personal critique is literally "this is good because it's popular". It kinda cheapens reviews for me
@@mrana2424 while I do hate that. You're basically doing what you don't like. Go to an analysis on those films instead of labeling them influential and find out why culture perceives them as such.
This being I have no idea why this film isn't more popular among horror circles. It's great.
But influence is important tho?
Genuinely thought the final monologue about learning new skills was gonna segue into a Skillshare ad
Erica find out on *Skillshare*
Is that how you spell it? I thought it was spelled "segway" lmao
Baumgartner style
Some Sally Face Fan
Segway is the vehicle
Nah, leave that to Sam O' Nella
As I sit here in my 1-bed apartment, approaching my 5th decade in life, in self-isolation, looking out the window at the sun-lit blue sky, just a little too close to home. Woof.
I hope you feel well soon. Perhaps take comfort in the fact that you have been born, a gift many shall not receive
@@jessicaevans6103 so have you. *reveals a toaster with a cat on it*
Why do I recognize this, why is that “Woof.” so familiar. Which poem is this from?!?
I realize, now, why I recognize this. It reminded me of Dream Song 14 by John Berryman. “And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag
and somehow a dog
has taken itself & its tail considerably away
into mountains or sea or sky, leaving
behind: me, wag.”
@@eraserheadbabygirl wise words
Can we just Agree that this thumbnail is AMAZING.
That's the imagery I was hoping for thematically going into this video not a gray scale parlor room orchestrated setting.
Huh? What thumbnail? Manufactured pictures don't tickle my....thank you! I never understand worship of propaganda. Only reality.
@ what do you expect, it's nearly impossible to separate reality, and ideology today. Look how we praise mediocre art, and culture. The first guy that made a virgin Mary pic with dung probably had something to say, the 40th guy to do it deserves to get his ass kicked for wasting our Time
it really caught my eye
That thumbnail reminded me of both Harvey Two-Face and The Terminator, simultaneously.
My dad does this shit to me all the time where he'll ponder out loud about how different his life could have been if he had gone a different direction after he graduated, or after he left the navy, or whatever and he seems so callously unaware that what he's saying, to me, to my face, is that he wishes he never met my mom and never had me.
There's something about old men and identity crisis that turns them into... well... jerks!
All you can do is change how you are. Don't make the same mistakes he made. And definitely DONT make your mistakes someone else's problem like he does to you.
His problem is entirely his own and not yours. Look after yourself.
That’s so bloody terrible, what does he want you to do? Say yes and pack his bags for him? The other two who have replied really hit the bulls eye, the only person you’re in charge of is yourself. The slight positive is that you have one wonderful example of not what to do!
I can’t imagine a world without my children. I’m sorry your dad is like this.
My pa is like this to a fucking gross degree. He treats my sisters significant others like humans, but gets jealous and weird around my girlfriends. He was hardcore abusive when I was a kid, now tells me he's making up for it by treating my niece like a princess, though I think his relationship with her is weird and obsessive.
He's a POS.
Distance yourself now.
He will only become more toxic as time goes on, I can almost guarantee it.
For a 60s movie, that's some slick camerawork.
Definitely check out more from the DP (James Wong Howe) and director (John Frankenheimer). You're just scratching the surface! If you like elaborate tracking shots: Max Ophuls.
Gotta check that out
You havent seen many movies clearly
I can't say it for myself but Id imagine that maybe the "slick camerawork for a 60s movie" might be something you say without having watched a lot of 60s movie, like most people nowdays... Maybe theres a lot of 60's movies with experimental camerawork...
bruh, 60's movies have the finest cinematography, u should watch more movies
Absolutely amazing. The connection between "Rock Hudson" playing the re-birthed man is truly chilling, given his EXACT real life parallel of how Hollywood erased and hid a massive part of his identity to make him the ideal leading man. I got chills when you said that.
Salome Jens, who played the new girlfriend in Malibu, may have been the first one to make that connection. She specifically referenced the terrible cry of horror & despair he gives at his party (while being physically restrained), when yet another awful revelation presents itself. Salome said she thought Rock Hudson was drawing on his personal pain & reacting to the fraudulence of his own life/career.
What really terrifies people depending on the details, is the truth that they don't want to hear.
Seems like consent is a big part of this movie.
1. Arthur goes to The Company; he DOESN'T want to go through with it; finds he's locked-in and has no choice in the matter.
2. Arthur r*ped a woman whomst was locked up and didn't consent in any way.
3. Arthur did not want to go through that "grape-squishing" orgy; but, he was forced into it.
4. Arthur was tied up and screaming at end of the movie, only to be used as a dead-body for the next guy.
5. Arthur didn't want the life he had; and he didn't want the life he got; then, he had his life AND memories taken from him.
Also, the scenes in which he was going through the laundromat and meat-processing plant were fore-shadowing of what was about to happen to him. The laundromat represented the clean start The Company offered him. The meat-processing plant represents how they cut him up (literally) like a piece of meat; then, put him through a grinder (metaphorically). And, getting into the back of that van represented the death of Arthur Hamilton; the closing door of the van representing the closing of a coffin. And, finally, when the doors of the van re-open, it represents his re-birth as he entered into the world as Tony Wilson.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY -BY DAY & WARGROUND BULLY -BY NIGHT
I don't see it that way at all in this video. It is true however that many UA-cam essayists forcefully inject ill-fitting messages in their videos.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY - THE BOSS He's not wrong in his observations, just his conclusions.
BOARDROOM-BULLY - THE BOSS WITH NO LOSS actually that might have been the best decision he could have made, but sadly that might have made for a pretty boting movie.
The first point that he is locked into the Company with no choice, stuck with me when I saw it too. The denial of consent is definitely a tool that adds to the horror, it makes Arthur's situation feel that much more fatal and claustrophobic. The alternative option isn't really a choice for him.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY - THE BOSS WITH NO LOSS Feminism is just a lens we can use to interpret the film, you're not "inserting" anything, you're viewing the piece of media through a philosophical perspective. We can do the same thing with any philosophy: capitalism, fascism, anarchism, literally any religion, you name it, there's the potential for an essay on it. And they're all valid ways to learn more and think more critically about a work. So maybe, you should ask yourself why it's the feminist lens that bothers you?
So this is basically a film version of the adage, "No matter where you go, there you are."
I thought your perspective on it is very interesting. I don't see, though, the wife characters as being neglected or portrayed as evil, when in fact in the first scenes she even tries to comfort her husband (and maybe even engage in sexual activities) just to release him from his state of distress, but her advances were refused. Later Arthur himself would complain that there was no sex in the relationship - and here the narrative expresses that he's the maker of his own evil.
Also, I get that you wanted a broader picture of things, or a story that walked to a lighter or more constructive conclusion, but that would be a detour from what the movie really is: a guy that wasted his life by refusing to make the choices himself, a guy that is dead and believed he could go back to the living. That feels very powerful and that's why the movie remains so impactful to this day: the conclusion is that there's no going back, and the brutality of that afirmation mustn't be ignored.
"The dream of youth is an illusion standing in the way of us realizing our own artistic potential" Brilliant
Yeah I think everybody says, if they could only start over again but more than likely you would just make the same mistakes again. Just in a slightly different way.
And if you hadn't made those mistakes you wouldn't even know what you really want now. It's just a matter of changing once you get to that point and not thinking it's too late...
I would argue that since the film is about depression that it’s a good thing the movie didn’t explore Arthur’s family reactions. Because ultimately other people’s feelings for us aren’t a factor in our depression. in a sense there is something self-centered to the nature of depressive ideation the belief that’s we should be something more for our own sake. Our true relationships are irrelevant in the face of that, so if you want a happier ending you might have the character figure out the way out of that self-centered realm to see the other people in their life, but I don’t think it’s that kinda film. Instead the point is as you said the things we think that are making us unhappy usually aren’t you have to make bolder choices to get past a mental block and if you don’t take them unhappiness builds.
@@ko-ZHI12345 I guess so, but and this is just my theory on film criticism it's better to judge the film as is versus what it should or could be. Otherwise it's just making up fanfiction, nothing wrong with it but it's not film critique
I find that perspective on depression really interesting, I never really saw it that way but it’s truly sometimes a selfish illness, my own personal experience being I could barely do things and help with things I needed to and it became other’s responsibility, I was far too focused on myself and what I was feeling to see the bigger picture.
5 element acu pressure
Lungs - lg intestine skin
autumn white
Depression 👇
pungent - onions
Onion soup baked boiled stewed fried
White, yellow, purple etc...
Might be sulfer
Excessive deficient.
🤺💐
@@FreyaEinde Your husband ignoring your existence doesn't affect your mental state?
@@-Scrapper- Don’t twist what I actually said
Your narration of the movie synopsis reminds me of Rod Serling's narrations from "The Twilight Zone." 😁😁😁 Amazing work
I thought the exact same thing haha
At first i thought for sure this was a Twilight Zone episode i had forgot about.
The whole plot sounds like straight out of the Twilight zone. Actually there's a very similar episode, where there's a middle aged couple that go to this place to get a young body transplant but they can only afford one procedure
The Twilight Zone is my favorite show ever...I just recently got into the night gallery also hosted by Rod Serling...there's a channel I've been watching recently that show night gallery episodes all day on Saturday's...there's also some cameos with some really good actors
In the scene where Arthur visits his "widow" Emily, I got a pretty clear picture of how she reacted to losing her husband. I recall her saying that Arthur had already "died" a long time ago, which implies he was an empty, joyless bastard that she's not missing too much. Even when he was there, he wasn't really there, so she had grown accustomed to his absence long before his fake death.
Honestly, the biggest tragedy of this movie is that he didn't choose to be selfish. He literally turned down the offer and walked away before finding out he can't. He never really had a choice.
I think he realized he couldn't adapt to what the company required. Grooming managing handling others through that system
Correct he didn't really realize his soul, what soul he had
Now belongs to the 👹.
He didn't do his research.
Maybe he was 🎯.
🤺💐
The daughter’s reaction to her father’s ‘death’ would be huge for the main character to behold.
This video may have just changed me. I'm depressed, I'm struggling. But I need to stop making excuses for why I'm not doing what I want to do. So genuinely thank you! I hope to come back to this video in a year and say this was when I decided to finally start doing something.
Update?
@@nathanfranz4058 not like I've blown up or anything but I got into streaming regularly, I've dabbled with different types of things but after quiting my job and some life adjustments (having my first kid in April) so I've reeled it in, but this did motivate me and im glad I did it. 🤙🏿
The song at the end is Pyramid by Jason Webley if anyone was wondering.
Mvp
Thanks
awesome, i was just abt to comment asking this lmao
Thank you stranger
Thank you
My family used to move a lot when I was a kid. I was a pretty awkward child, the class weirdo, so moving to a new place always felt like a relief. Like a chance to start over with people who had not seen all my goofs and eccentricities. It never lasted, though. I was still me at the end of the day, and all these new faces would see me for what I was almost immediately. You can leave your old life, but not yourself.
*You can leave your old life but not your current self
There’s always the “permanent solution” if the pain proves itself to be just as permanent
Very nice video.
I've seen a number of stories where "a new life" pops up, with their old life either fake-deathed, replaced by a clone, a robot surrogate, etc. Just once I'd love to see one of these stories where the company is obsessed with new-lifeing someone who, while stressed and tired, genuinely loves their life and wouldn't trade it for anything.
This video hit hard. As someone who worked hard in college to not only be the first in his family to graduate but also do so with honors, only to end up doing the exact same type of job my parents did, I've definitely felt like I've been trapped in a soulless cycle of repetition and that I'm owed more. The irony is that my degree is in psychology so I KNOW that I'm capable of changing my thoughts and behaviors and I KNOW that my life won't instantly change once I do but the monotony of life just makes it seem inescapable.
Long personal rant aside, this was a fantastic video showcasing why horror/sci-fi are genres rich with commentary about all sorts of topics, and not just a shallow commentary (although those do exist) but deep with themes that, if one gets a little introspective, can really change how they think or even act. You are definitely one of the horror/media video essay-ists I respect the most.
wow, this old movie hits deep and its timeless, every one can relate to this movie, the struggle to understand and accept who we are. as always great analysis! thank you for making this video essay, youtube channel like these enhanced my life
I don't care if this movie is mysoganistic. I think the wife not being expanded upon adds to Arthur's story, it's about him. Not his wife.
In 15-20 years from now, you'll understand... and it will hit you with the force of an entire galaxy... and it will never leave you.
Yes, I understand.
@@Ron4885 Let me guess... you majored in "Understanding" at your local technical institute.
I feel like wishing for more coverage of how Arthurs absence impacts his wife is missing the point of the film. It's supposed to be a lesson about how achieving or realizing fantasies and dreams won't make you happy automatically. Many people live in their heads thinking "If only I had this or if only I could do this and that, then I would be happy" but fail to see that those things won't change what makes them unhappy or unsatisfied. Maybe they could've included more set-up to the beginning of the film about what Arthur feels is keeping him from happiness and what it is he thinks could bring him that happiness. I'd still be interested in a remake, as long as it keeps in mind the core ideas.
Thank you for this amazing work. I’m currently kind of depressed (not sure if it’s bipolar or something). His perspective on life in this movie is so relatable to me. It’s not like I don’t know that I’m mistreating people in my life, I always know there something wrong with me. But I’m just too selfish to change. I genuinely thank you for telling this story and help me realize it again. I’ll seek help and try. I hope I will come here again but better. I’ll make a appointment soon. Thank you.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’ll all be ok
I see In Praise of Shadows, I click.
Yep
ikr
Exactly
Love this channel, just found it and am hooked
Portraying the impact on the main characters significant others would simply make the movie a sci-fi “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
And the "womanizer chad" thing would turn it into American Pie
I will say this: John Randolph was the perfect physical older parallel to Rock Hudson. Rock Hudson brilliantly imitated John Randolph's personality (the same eyes also!). You really think you're watching the same man throughout the film!
How have I never heard of this film?! I will be watching, something about this really resonates with me.
Definitely check out other films from John Frankenheimer too.
definitely my favorite youtuber, he just puts so much passion and effort into his videos flawlessly.
Seconds is basically The Twilight Zone Meets The Manchurian Candidate (with some of Frankenstein thrown in) In the opening scenes you expect to see the camera pan on Rod Serling. Rock Hudson said that it was almost a horror movie, but no its a bona fide horror film!
*regretfully loses everything, only to realize it too late and then gets murdered
hE pReTty mUcH gEtS oFf sCot fReE
what
I am absolutely ecstatic to see appreciation of Seconds. It is one of my favorite films to examine, especially through a queer lens of Rock Hudson's performance and life. It is fantastic and sad to watch all at once.
An interesting essay on a movie that has intrigued me for decades.
Hey Zane, I just wanted to thank you for this channel. I have always had a bit of interest in darker media and darker themes, but only experienced dissatisfying horror while growing up (and was easily spooked). I expressed my interest instead in science fiction. As time has gone on, many channels - especially yours- has given me an analytic mind for media. Specifically, I am given a vocabulary and framework to judge and enjoy different medias, especially now horror, in the context of self and culture. I used to say it was my least favorite genre, and now it’s one of my favorites. Thank you for that gift of renewed interest!
Remember, a statue has never been erected in honor of a critic. This was a great film. Let the critic try to remake it. He can't.
Fantastic Video and analysis. You touched so many true topics that I subconciously fealt when watching the Film, but wasnt able to verbalise them. Well done Sir. Thank you.
"this is entirely about how this event impacts Arthur"
there you go as to why the wife was not important and how she feels about his death was unimportant and why she is just there to show us how he is just using her to project his frustrations, all explained in that sentence. This doesn't mean the movie is misogynistic, same thing with the rape, if it was okay it wouldn't be something they would use against him and could have resorted to any other form of threat to guarantee liability, throwing the word misogyny around just to attack the movie or time period is a little harsh.
It’s the only thing wrong with this channel, it’s judgemebtal woke bs
Yeah he kinda missed the point
I can't agree with stated reasons for your ambivalence towards Seconds; I think it is a brilliant depiction of the midlife crisis of the sort of "mature" adult that the likes of Jordan Peterson is urging young men to become -- hierarchy-climbing status seekers. Arthur has been a conformist to society's expectations all his life -- the rational RIGHT thing to do, I suppose, considering the horrors of what can happen to individuals who don't. But we aren't expressly taught this fear of the "horror" of not fitting-in, especially not as motivation; our society is too egotistical to admit that attaining the big car, body or other material must-haves is like attaining armour -- armour that protects you from that "horror" fate -- of being judged a worthless nobody. Upon attaining this armour Arthur finds it empty, because he -- the one inside it -- is also empty, a void encased by persona rather than a person. Seconds is a scathing examination of the values society takes for granted as much as it's the examination of a hollow man's life, perhaps even more the former. Every misery minor or major -- from tooth decay resulting from humanity's switch from a hunter-gatherer diet to the grain based diet that made civilization possible, to depressions partly engendered by society's demands -- is society's money-making opportunity. Arthur is a victim of his own egotistical/fearful ascent/conformity to society's "proper" standards, but as such is a victim of society aswell; even the company's "cure" for his ills is just another shot at the same thing, so he's twice a victim and thrice when recycled.
I really didn't see any blame to the wife from Arthur -- he seemed severely disappointed with HIMSELF actually, in light of the wife's positive amorous feelings early on. And Arthur seemed genuinely devastated at his own admissions to the old man, like he was as remorseful of his loss of attraction to his stalwart partner as he was certain that it was so -- he felt guilty. When Arthur/Tony speaks to his wife about a painting "Arthur" did, a last vestige of ego is displayed when Tony is a little disappointed that she gave it to charity, that SHE let go of Arthur and wasn't devasted by the loss; but as she talks about her "dead" husband -- about his emotional distance -- you see acceptance without rancour cross Tony's face because he accepts that their former love died of HIS neglect, and if she wasn't grieving NOW, that was because she'd done all her grieving when Arthur was "alive" yet dead inside...I see no blame given to the wife by any character or by the movie itelf. And the "dragging" middle section is necessary -- it shows just how lost without his former routine Arthur/Tony is. The tense music while Tony is attempting to resurrect his artistic leanings...well why not, because such an encounter -- with a maybe true, maybe bullshit -- presumption/fantasy about the "true self" would be tense...he was on edge. Saying all this, I still respect your interesting analysis of a great movie.
I 200% agree with your remarks . . . so true, and it's sobering to consider that this devastating critique of American materialistic/status culture was made 54 years ago. This is a story that really "twists the knife" - like when "Tony" is visiting the ex and she remarks, sorrowfully, that Arthur had been dead for a long time before his "accident."
Life, in all truth, has no meaning and life becomes easier when one accepts the obvious: no one gets younger and this existence is all you get.
" Jordan Peterson is urging young men to become -- hierarchy-climbing status seekers" When the heck did Jordan Peterson encourage young men to be that!? He wants people to be confident, competent individuals with strong family relationships. I've never, ever heard him say anything about devoting your life to work for the sake of work, or getting ahead of others. He talks about success almost totally in personal terms of having a meaningful life.
@@AlexReynard Well JP never said my exact words as statement, but he did go on about "hierarchies of competence" and how the most competent -- such as Elon Musk and his ilk -- therefore deserve their high status owing to their high competence, and that if you want such status, or a high place in the hierarchy, you should be conscientious to increase your own "competence", meaning work ethic, meaning dedication to work, meaning time spent working. JP's "meaning of life" has a ALOT to do with finding your place in the "hierarchy of competence" -- the system/society -- and climbing that ladder, at least as far as men are concerned. JP has a pretty narrow view of "meaning"; to him the active and enthusiastic participation in the free-market economy is the ONLY legitimate way in which to find meaning -- "be useful" (to the system, to the hierarchy) is part of JPs definition of meaning -- and I've never heard him give credence or ascribe legitimate "meaning" to any other mode of living, except maybe stay-at-home motherhood for women.
Wait something similar to this is happening in South Korea, where a service actually hosts a pretend-funeral so people can feel like they've "started over".
I remember watching this on TV late at night when I was a teenager and it really effected me. To this day remember the closing shots. A movie ahead of it's time in many ways.
This has become one of my favourite channels. Great job once again!
God damnit, I love you're work so much!!! I recently turned 46 and this hit me in the face like a brick. It may sound odd, but thank you. Reality checks can come from surprising places sometimes....
Given the size of the world and misc other factors we'll probably never meet, but in my mind I'm shaking you hand and saying thank you. The simple act of sacrificing a moment to say a kind word to a random stranger is awesome. I try to show real gratitude by paying it forward ths next time I have a chance.
A minute in and I'm already terrified
That man in the beginning when I realized he was the only one going to the side while everyone else was moving normally gave me serious chills
Wow really great analysis of the film. I agree women aren't really portrayed well at all in this movie but I will say that I think the wife's final scene and that dialogue in the film is the most powerful moment that affected me deeply. That actress did a great job.
13:50 I do want to argue that, at least how you described it, I don't believe that plot point is misogynistic, because the corporation that does this in the storyline is in fact evil, not heroic. The fact they would do something so horrible as to abuse a woman just to make a video they could use as black mail is a foreshadowing of the true nature of their corporation that later is shown to essentially be a murderous cult. It seems to me its portrayed as a horrific thing to do? I know I'm nitpicking but it feels like that specific point would actually be the opposite of misogyny. Hard to watch though for sure.
I do agree with the other points though. Maybe if there was a remake, it could illustrate these points better.
Using rape as a plot tool is about as misogynistic as it gets, in my honest opinion.
There's always a better alternative to use. It displays crudeness and a lack of creativity.
The use rape is just another example of the film not caring about any of the women on screen, thats what makes it mysoginistic. The raped woman is just an unamed plot point kinda like the wife or the protagonists daughter.
@@CaspianMidnight to be fair its supposed to be crude and disgusting even though thats not really a defense lol "its supposed to be bad guys!"
Oh thank God we have a man to reassure us the unnecessary rape scene isn't misogynistic because *he* doesn't think it is! 🙄
I totally agree with you. The evil corporation did an evil thing. The fact that it was so evil is to horrify the audience. This is a horror movie. People can winge about how "there is always a better way" but that comes from a place that wants to be "comfortable"... In watching a h.o.r.r.o.r movie. It really felt lame labeling the movie misogynistic for that.
Nicely done and well summarized. The visit to his wife at least allows us to hear her point of view where she talks about him being withdrawn and celibate. Whereas he initially blamed her.
I liked that melodrama part. It showed him totally alone in a new environment but also a completely meaningless reality, mirroring his old life. It's like he was stuck in a loop.
I feel like this is a great story format for a series. Perhaps it starts as an anthology where a new person gets the surgery each week. Subtly integrate the patients into each other's stories.
Damn son, this is deep. What's in it for the company though?
souls
The rebirthed person would owe the company a favour; that is how I would write on this premise.
Wow! ten likes. That's a fkn first for me to be sure.( and no, I didn't "like" my own comment )
It acts more like how a charity might work - it advertises itself as wanting to help others achieve what they could if they had the proper living standards, but some charities don't really do the things they promise. Imagine it like PETA, like if a pet was sent to a new home and didn't adjust. The pet would simply be killed if nobody tries to adopt it, or in the case, if the main character can't adopt this new life given to him by the company.
@@devonmolina5200
If I had Bill Gates type of money, I would help those who are harder working than others and who have had a strike of fate hit them and could recover faster with some help. I would help the strivers and fighters. Some people will sit semi contentedly despite complaints in their mess and not do what they need to do and not do what they can do. It is important to do the little things and to maintain all the free will choices we can when most of those choices seem unavailable or bad. Sometimes we have only bad choices and we choice the least bad choice.
Truly, one the greatest films ever made, and Rock hudson's best film. Fantastic review btw 👍
Reminds me of the quote " wherever you go, there you are"
Actually, the modern seconds you're yearning for, exists : Edmond, by Stuart Gordon, in which a middle aged man goes on a selfish odyssey to wildly not learn a thing. Check it out, it's wonderful.
That and adaption of a play by Mamet.
@@jacoblevenson7934 of course
that...doesn't quite work as a comparison.
@@plasticweapon agreed - it was more of a thematic analogy.
i absolutely love the background music.
the vid is so so well-done.
good job ma man.
watching the recap is a strange mixture of "goddamn i wish this was real" and "wait no go back"
Terrific backstory of Seconds and the symbolic references of aging and dissatisfied lives that people don't really understand how lucky they are to be "normal'.
The depression and artistic frustration commentary really hits the nail on the head for me! Great video as always!!!
I just love Shadows's voice, it creates a great atmosphere.
I like your take on a projecting our feelings on others, and psychology has actually proved that most of our anger we throw at other people is misdirected, not exactly the same but interesting nonetheless. I also like how you point out that what’s holding us back is probably jus in our head, and I’ll do my best to remember that message in the future
Your uploads make my day man. Your passion and interest really shines through 😊
Arthur showed is egotistical side of himself and therefore I think it was a good choice to maintain the focus on him and his feelings only. I also don't think that middle chunk of the movie, where he begins a new life, had to be somehow different. Indeed, it proved that, even though he changed himself on the exterior, he's still the same routine type of person who hasn't any kind of drive in his life. As a matter of fact he then needed to be pushed by Nora into action. This movie is more contemporary then ever, in an age where people go through any sort of body transformation in order to seek a new and better life like the one they see on social media.
I keep coming back to this video. You have serious talent. And I believe your video transcend the medium.
Please don’t stop creating. I disagree with your politics, and I think you might disdain me for my beliefs. But I see you as a bright light on this website.
So it's about midlife crises. I hadn't heard of this before. Thanks for the tip.
Re: your remarks about his wife, etc. this seems to me completely beside the point. You want a sudden shift of protagonist, a new POV. We aren't being asked to approve of this character, but it is HIS story. The fact he doesn't care how this affects his wife is information about him and the story we're following. It was enough for you to understand her situation. Why you'd want to suddenly intercut with her story, I don't know. As for your proposed 'update' on the story, it's actually an entirely different story. This one is clearly about midlife crisis, and how who he is cannot be fit into what is a perfectly legitimate more youthful culture. Your idea instead villifies the youth and suggests that the problem is with them.
>your remarks about his wife, etc. this seems to me completely beside the point.
This. It's a potentially interesting avenue to explore, but no character aside from the protagonist is owed screentime. She's not the focus here.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY -BY DAY & WARGROUND BULLY -BY NIGHT Did you forget to take your medicine today? Because that's what's interesting to me right now.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY -BY DAY & WARGROUND BULLY -BY NIGHT kek, I'll take PMS over an ALL CAPS psychotic episode.
@BOARDROOM-BULLY -BY DAY & WARGROUND BULLY -BY NIGHT ok
This is such an interesting movie. Had I not seen a video about it a couple of years back I would never had heard of it. That is what channels like this one and film critics do at their best: they point to a lesser known thing and say: "hey, this is great, you should check it out".
Moments in and the filmography has me shocked. For a second I couldn't tell if this movie was legitimately from 1966. So 50s/60s movies have such a flat feel to them, nothing like the wide angle steady-cam shots at the beginning.
I think there is no need to remake Seconds, I think that The Game, Being John Malkovich, Get Out, Eternal Sunshine, they all take a lot from Seconds and make it their own thing with great results
please, one day I'd like to hear you try to piece together a memory of your own past as vividly as you can remember.
The film is better than this reviewr suggests
I always interpreted the final image of the man on the beach is that of the man Arthur is dying for. The new life created from his death.
Dwight Kemper I thought it was the life he could’ve had. A grandfather happy with the life he was given
@@Bilboswaggins2077 I'd like a copy of the script and see what it says. But as I recall, the movie opens with much the same camera distortion over the credits, and then we meet Arthur. I figured it was distorting again to meet the new reborn.
I love this channel so much. Never die
Thank you so very much for another thorough, thought provoking video. You are such a gem on this platform . (I especially loved the reference to Roland from The Dark Tower series) 💕
Just watching the making of Giant and Rock is talking about his ageing makeup.He was 28 years and aged to 40 then
They should have gone for Cosmic Horror : man changes face and integrates himself perfectly into new environment. Family is forgotten, depression evaporates. The experiment points at a simple truth : whatever men consider deep is really only skin deep.
I think that's a little bit more shallow, maybe a little more overdone (as in a common trope in movies) than the message and story they were trying to, and did, convey.
I love Seconds. I love watching movies on DVD then watching them again with the commentary turned on and this on was certainly worth watching with the commentary.
Me, too.😷😃
i have never heard of this movie and it looks stunning, especially for such an old movie. the story seems fantastic! thank you for sharing and analyzing this movie!
Hot damn, I've been there.
I'm a lot better about coping with depression now, but I still get frustrated about work and my lack of creative endeavors.
Beautiful video
Misogyny aside, to show both halves of his life, the one he's living and the one he left being, would make for a different movie. The commitment to the one-sided point of view strengthens the narrative because it's realistic; people are inherently narcissistic, selfish. To show his wife and daughter's reaction to his death would be a drastic change, to the point of changing the message and evoking different emotions. For example, you might feel less discomfort watching him in his new life if you found out the wife was, say, happier that he's gone. The daughter may feel the burden of her father's expectations is lifted. And suddenly you feel sympathy for this man who threw his life away. He deserves none.
Good use of the theme from “the High and the Mighty”. Learned how to whistle that theme for my Grandfather. Helped him some while he passed from cancer.
A lot of this movie hit differently for me than you, it seems. The biggest was that I never once saw Arthur’s wife as a nag, or as a relatable source of frustration... from the jump I pretty much saw her as a kind and patient woman who was kept at arms length by a man deeply and unrepentantly obsessed with himself. She desperately wants to comfort and repair him, even as he offers her no passion or even regard for her patience.
Her final scene with him confirmed this for me, when she, like he did before, described their marriage as passionless, but fruitful, and him as a man who “died” years before his passing, at least in terms of her relationship with him. I actually think the movie goes to great lengths to show that she is better off in pretty much every way without him, and his not revealing the truth to her was the one kindness he does for her, even if he still is only there for his own selfish reasons.
I also wondered how much of the rape scene was intended to be also falsified. The doctor says Arthur “did not ravage her” and especially having seen what happened with Nora, I wondered If it was all just part of the company’s many many deceptions. He was drugged, we don’t know with what. It’s repulsive behavior from him regardless, and he would be a rapist even if she was just an actress... but that combined with the drugging and the intense level of control exhibited by the company, I do wonder if it’s just another ruse that the movie doesn’t communicate clearly enough.
I also didn’t find the middle section dull at all. I liked seeing the full breadth and descent back into depression and self centeredness in its entirety, personally. As such I didn’t feel jarred by this different section, or even note it as feeling out of place. it felt like a natural progression for the main character, and that the movie was taking its time to show us the decline beat by beat.
This movie reminds me very much of the movies Mr Nobody, which deals with the idea of “paths less taken.” Maybe that would be of interest to you? In any case, great vid, it really helped me suss out my own feelings about the film.
Great analysis. Hudson is great in this, I'm glad for him he got to make this movie (flawed as it is) and get away from endless light romantic comedy. The pre-op actor is very good too and it is kind of believable he could be transformed into Hudson, there's just enough similarity
Rock Hudsons acting is so amazing.
I was not familiar with this film and when I saw a short clip thought it was a film noir dealing with spies, secret agents, government/corporate intrigue and such. In a way I guess it does, as it has that paranoid mystique about it.
I love your content. Truly a pleasure to watch and listen.
Top quality material here. Sincerely appreciate the effort you put into this.
I really want to thank you for this video. Got it in my recommended and thought it'd probably be another fine if not semi self aggrandizing discussion of an old film that probably wasn't really that good but your video has gotten me very genuinly interested in it and the discussion of how we self project onto people at the end I thought was very well said. I recently just moved away thinking a fresh start would be the life altering change I needed and how this new found freedom would change me but it really hasn't. Its funny I in fact find myself overwhelmed with the sheer potential to go anywhere or do anything and make up an abritary excuse to not do so. Perception really is everything, great video man I can't wait to watch more of your stuff
Damn, this dude gets it. Mad respect. This vid taught me several new lessons that I could do well with to carry on. Was very pleasantly surprised by this vid. New sub
This is a post war novel, that can be understood, but not felt by most people today. The theme of the movie was quite common, and was first popularized by the novel, "The man in the Gray Flannel Suit." The theme was popular, and used often for the parents of Baby Boomers. The only places you can see it now, is the old Sixties Star Trek episode, or The Twilinght Zone." It wasn't that this generation wanted a better life the one they had. This was this was the generation, that had lived, and fought during the worst times in human history. The had stared into the face of a world consming evil, and said, "No, you will not destroy everything. I will, we will stop you." This is what the world did. They stared into the Abyss, and saved all of humanity. Then they came home, and life seem small, and petty. All they cared for, all the lusted for now seemed petty, and unimportant. An entire generation thought, "Life has to be more then this." I can say this, and might grasp what these people felt, but I'll never feel in my heart, what this movie is about. This movie, and all the others like this, belong to people, and time I can't truly understand.
Your videos are a sadness cure
I love you for making this
Great video, but I'm not sure I agree that the film blames the problems on his wife - when he has the final scene with her, she speaks about how he was never candid with her about anything, which to me was there to drive home the point that this was all about him, and she did nothing wrong. Certainly agree there's questionable handling of women in the film generally, though.
Have to ask what font you used for the dialogue cards, it’s gorgeous and perfect for the video.
It's called „Atomic Age“.
sinkhole of happiness thanks much!
very thoughtful! I love your commentary on depression, happiness and the subconscious
horror films appear to be ahead of the times quite often.
i really appreciated this whole video, especially when you talked about how the film ignores how Arthur's actions affect the people who cared about him.
the whole video, i kept thinking about this 'trend' lately telling people to follow their own happiness no matter what (cough-eatpraylove-cough) - there's just never any talk or consideration of what "follow your own happiness no matter what" means for our families, our friends, and the people who depend on us. its assumed that if you're happy, then everything will work out and your friend/family will be totally understanding and happy for you even if they're badly hurt by your choices.
definitely going to watch this film thanks to all the thinking you've inspired
Keep up the good work my man, your analysis on your subjects is top notch.
I hope you get many more views and subscribers on your future videos you deserve way more than you get at the moment.
Best channel on UA-cam by far in my opinion
Probably the second best plastic surgery transformation in movie history, just behind Myra Breckinridge. Gotta love those movie plastic surgeons. You'll never see one of their cases on Botched.