Seconds

[Stu]

Finally got round to watching Seconds after hearing about it for years. Middle-aged businessman is tired of his humdrum existence and so a mysterious corporation offers to give him a new face and new identity so he can start his life over, living a new and more fulfilling existence. That's the plan anyway ...

The plot's fairly straightforward but the story's execution is pretty creepy. Shot in black and white, with some weird camera angles and sweaty close-ups, plus an unsettling Saul Bass title sequence . Feels a bit like a sleazier, more paranoid Twilight Zone episode. Directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Rock Hudson.

[ChildofOldLeech]

This is one of my all-time favorite films; the cinematography is incredibly innovative and light-years ahead of its time (Aaronofsky borrowed a lot of tricks from it), there's lots of dread-saturated atmospherics, and one of the most devastating endings I have ever seen. Required viewing.

[vapidleopard]

This looks fantastic. I shall definitely be investigating.

Although an almost reverse of the set-up of this, The Bothersome Man seems to share some similarities ie a man mysteriously transported from his known life into a humdrum existence in a strange city of indifferent peoples. Highly recommended it is too, especially if that unique Scandinavian blend of sinister whimsy is your taste.

ICA Films on DVD : The Bothersome Man