Consistently wrongfooting its audience, The Life of Chuck is an ambitious three-act opus of unexpected positivity.
Writer & Director: Mike Flanagan
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Run Time: 110′
TIFF Screening: September 13-16, 2024
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA
‘Thanks, Chuck!’ It feels like these words are following Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) everywhere he goes. They’re written on billboards, spoken on the radio and pasted across TV screens, thanking a seemingly ordinary office worker for ‘39 amazing years’. Told in three chronologically reversed acts, The Life of Chuck slowly reveals its hand as it unfurls the life of the mysterious title character.
Starting out as a puzzling sci-fi thriller before touching on elements of horror and bildungsroman, this touchingly optimistic film is Mike Flanagan’s best yet.
The appearance of the words ‘Act Three’ at the very beginning might invoke eye rolls from some, but the film’s unusual chronology proves to be more than a gimmick. First we see the aforementioned Marty as he reconnects with his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan, of Dual) while the world seemingly ends around them. Then over the next, or should that be previous, two acts, the life of Chuck (Tom Hiddleston in act two, several young actors including Jason Tremblay in act one) plays out. And that’s about as much as I can tell you without giving the game away.
Based on a 2020 novella by Stephen King, this marks Flanagan’s third big-screen adaptation of the US author’s work. Chuck’s story is one of bereavement, illness and lost innocence. But it’s also full of joy, love and a passion for dance; by far its most memorable scene shows Hiddleston busting some serious moves in an impromptu performance with a busking drummer. Eben Bolter’s camera dances with the characters throughout a number of endearing musical sequences, its stillness all the more pointed in the film’s sober moments. There’s a hint of Robby Müller’s work on Paris, Texas in the way artificial light glows around its characters when things do slow down.
While Hiddleston is the face of the film, his screen time is slim for a lead. Ejiofor and Gillan are the focus of ‘act three’, but barely appear in the rest of the film, while Mark Hamill’s standout turn as Chuck’s grandpa Albie doesn’t really get going until the last half hour. This is all to say that it’s a real ensemble effort, a lack of reliance on one single actor adhering to the frequently cited Walt Whitman line that becomes the film’s battle cry: ‘I contain multitudes’. Each and every performance here plays its small part in bringing the protagonist to life.
Like much of Flanagan’s work, The Life of Chuck can be a little verbose. Nick Offerman’s off-beat narration is relied on just a touch too much, while Kate Siegel’s extended analysis of Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’ recalls her interminable schmaltzy monologues in Flanagan’s Midnight Mass. When one of the most famous poems in the English language receives this level of examination, one wonders how much the writer-director trusts his audience to ‘get it’. Perhaps the dance scenes are the most thrilling simply because they force the cast to shut up and let the images do the talking.
Wrongfooting its audience right to the final beat, The Life of Chuck is consistently unpredictable, as much in its mood and genre as its plot. The science fiction opening is counterbalanced by the raw drama of its second half, while the haunting gothic elements disrupt its lighthearted, comedic tone. But what is unambiguous is the affirming impression this lovely film leaves, turning out to be an unapologetic celebration of the preciousness of life.
The Life of Chuck was screened at TIFF on September 13-16, 2024, where it won the People’s Choice Award for Best Film. Read our list of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix horror series ranked from worst to best!
