Based on Stephen King’s novella and adapted by Mike Flanagan, The Life of Chuck starts with Act 3 of 3. It’s modern times, and a schoolteacher named Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) struggles to get through the afternoon’s parent/teacher conferences. Why? Well, the world seems to be ending. The internet has gone down again (maybe for the last time), a massive sinkhole has opened in the middle of town, and—perhaps a little more alarming—California has basically snapped off and a volcano has erupted in Germany. Anyhoo, people are more in a stunned state of shock than absolute panic, partly because billboards and radio ads and tv commercials keep popping up, thanking one accountant-looking guy named Charles Krantz for 39 great years! (“Thanks, Chuck!”).
Chuck is an enigma in this first section. The weird normality of his billboards serve as a sort of calming presence in the face of chaos, as Marty runs off to find and be with his ex-wife (Karen Gillen) in the eerie quiet of the End Times. Lovely moments of human connection between shell-shocked people that Marty encounters on the way, with standout scenes with Matthew Lillard and Carl Lumbly, are a nice cinematic contrast to the typical panicked end-of-the-world scenarios we usually see in movies.
The middle section of the film, Act 2, the shortest and the most surprisingly delightful, is the most efficient in its storytelling, basically taking place one afternoon in the life of adult Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). Turns out Chuck IS a dorky accountant, and on a beautiful day on a break from a convention, bursts into glorious dance to the drumbeats of a surprised street busker (Taylor Gordon). Chuck pulls in a passer-by, a woman named Janice (Annalise Basso) who’s had a shitty day, who can’t resist the joy of the music and the surprisingly great moves of the bespectacled guy in the suit… whom we learn (via narrator) will be dead in 9 months of a brain tumor. Dang, Chuck.
Finally, Act 1, the last chunk of the film, introduces Chuck to us as an adorable kid weathering a string of family tragedies. After his parents are killed in a car accident, Chuck (adorably wonderful tween Benjamin Pajak doing the heavy lifting of this act) is taken care of by his grandparents played by Mark Hamill and Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) (making me feel about a hundred years old). Their world is warm and full of love and dance and encouragement and… yes… some more tragedy. But as Chuck’s young life is formed by “multitudes” (in the words of Walt Whitman), these memories and experiences make him the person he is.
With The Life of Chuck, we’re reminded of the non-horror version of Stephen King, who brought us stories like Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. There is a wide-eyed empathy for the human condition in these stories, which is always a little surprising considering his blockbuster horror hits. King is also one of those tricksy writers who like to hide clues and Easter eggs in his storytelling. Sometimes he is guilty of being heavy-handed, other times he throws names and ideas and themes at you that immediately make you want (or in this case need) to rewatch the film as soon as it ends to piece it all together.
As for Mike Flanagan, I’m always thrilled to see anything he touches, as he especially has knocked it out of the park with his Netflix series Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, two scary shows that caught me off-guard by making me sob. (Flanagan fans will spot some of his regular actors here, like Katie Siegel, Rahul Kohli, and Samantha Sloyan.) Even when he doesn’t quite hit the mark (like with The Midnight Club series), he is still sooo much more interesting than most filmmakers and showrunners out there.
The melding of King and Flanagan could be and should be a great fit, and I had especially high expectations after hearing all the early festival buzz for this film. Did it deliver for me? Kind of. Mostly. At the very least The Life of Chuck is indeed always watchable. I couldn’t help but think of another similar novel I read that had a similar theme (linked here, to avoid spoilers), that I thought pulled it off narratively better. As it is, I am one of those folks that will stew on the surprisingly life-affirming Chuck, then one day give it a re-watch to piece it together.
