Author Stephen King and filmmaker Mike Flanagan have made careers predominantly out of their affinity for horror. With The Life of Chuck, they have decidedly pivoted and leaned into another of their shared strengths; broadcasting emotional stories. The result, however schmaltzy it may threaten to be, is a beautiful, weird celebration of life and all the moments that make one worth living.
A story told in three reverse chapters, The Life of Chuck informs us that the world is ending. The titular Chuck is one Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), and, at first, the only thing we know about him is that he’s being celebrated for his 39 years; “Charles Krantz 39 great years! Thanks, Chuck!” is sprawled across billboards, radio adverts, television, and even in skywriting. It’s as baffling to us as it is to the plethora of characters we initially meet – teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), nurse Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan), and coroner Sam Yarborough (Carl Lumbly) – who are all trying to make sense of what this message means, especially as they contend with dying communication methods and the impending doom of earthquakes, famine and sinkholes. The world is literally falling apart and all they have is each other.
As the film unfolds we learn that all of these characters are more interconnected than we could expect, especially to Chuck, who gets the most coverage in the second chapter. Flanagan’s script likes to remind us to take joy in life’s smaller moments, and it’s here that we witness Chuck living out one of his most precious memories. This sequence – an impromptu dance number, where Chuck starts publicly moving to the rhythm of a busking drummer’s beat solo – is arguably the film’s biggest standout set-piece, and though it does linger for a little too long, Hiddleston and his scene partner, Annalise Basso, are pure euphoria to watch. The importance of this scene ties into both chapters that surround it, and, as we hear from Nick Offerman‘s narration, that, at the end of Chuck’s life, this is the moment he’ll reflect on as he succumbs to a brain tumour; “Later he will forget his wife’s name. What he will remember, occasionally, is how he stopped and dropped his briefcase and began to move his hips to the beat of the drums. And he will think that is why God made the world. Just that.”
The film’s first chapter centres around Chuck’s childhood. Here, as a child (Benjamin Pajak, Cody Flanagan and Jacob Tremblay all play Chuck at various ages), we learn where that love of dance came from. Flanagan shamelessly leans into the saccharine possibilities of telling such a story here, but he always manages to find a balance so that it never adheres to an eye-rolling, Hallmark-movie type of temperament; even though sequences with Chuck and his grandmother (Mia Sara) have such an air about them. Sara is a luminous presence throughout her short tenure in the film, and she provides a healthy balance to that of Mark Hamill as Chuck’s grandfather, whose arc is linked more to the story’s more fantastical ideas.
The notion that Chuck’s shortened life is very much telegraphed for him speaks to the film’s overall message of choosing love and fulfilment wherever you can. He assures himself that “I am wonderful and I deserve to be wonderful and I contain multitudes,” and The Life of Chuck, as a film, operates on that notion of complicated humanity. We all contain multitudes, and if you surrender to Flanagan’s powerfully simple fable, you’ll be all the more pleased you chose something so emotionally resonate.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The Life of Chuck is screening as part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running between September 5th and 15th, 2024. For more information about the festival, head to the official site here.
