by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Nick Offerman, Mia Sara
Intro:
The Life of Chuck is wonderful.
There are some directors who just straight up get Stephen King, on like a sub-atomic level. Frank Darabont gave us three of the best adaptations of Maine’s favourite son with The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Green Mile (1999) and The Mist (2007). It’s pretty safe to say that bloke gets Stephen King. Rob Reiner who directed Stand by Me (1986) and Misery (1990)? He does too, obviously. And Mike Flanagan, who helmed the shockingly good adaptation of the impossible novel Gerald’s Game (2017) and the deeply underrated Doctor Sleep (2019) is one of the newest members of that club. In fact, ol’ mate Flano is apparently trying to cement his lifetime membership with his latest flick, The Life of Chuck, an extraordinary film that won’t be for everyone, but will absolutely thrill its intended audience.
The Life of Chuck, based on the 2020 Stephen King novella featured in his collection If It Bleeds, is a story of a man’s life told in reverse chronological order. Although the manner in which it does so is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible, so we’ll tread lightly.
Put it this way, the story is about Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak and Cody Flanagan), a human being who loves to dance and has been beset by far more than his fair share of personal tragedy. We follow Chuck (and things related to him) through various milestones in his life in the form of three acts, told out of order. It is, to be frank, an extremely odd viewing experience and one that will almost certainly put off audience members hoping to see something from the King oeuvre that skews more “sewer clown eats kiddies” and/or “pissed off classic car is out for revenge.”
What really sells this unusual yarn are the performances. Everyone is in top form here, whether it’s Tom Hiddleston as adult Chuck, Mark Hamill and Mia Sara as his zayde and bubbe respectively, or Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan facing what may be the end of the universe (or something else entirely). There’s also an embarrassment of excellent cameos like Kate Siegel, Matthew Lillard, Heather Langenkamp, David Dastmalchian and Nick Offerman’s voice. However, best in show goes to Benjamin Pajak as 11-year-old Chuck, in a nuanced and heartwarming turn, showcasing an emotional maturity far beyond his years.
It bears repeating that The Life of Chuck won’t be everyone. The first half an hour is likely to confuse a lot of people and the non-linear structure will be off-putting to those who just wanted to see the sexy Loki man dance like in the trailers. This is very much a Mike Flanagan film: slow, ponderous, chockers with meaty monologues and profoundly human. It’s sentimental but never twee, philosophical but never didactic. It’s an emotional, bittersweet rumination on life and death that demands your attention but delivers so much in return. To paraphrase the film itself, The Life of Chuck is wonderful, it deserves to be wonderful and it contains multitudes.
Bring a hankie, though, because you’re almost certainly going to have a sook.
