When Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Mansionand Midnight mass) adapts a Stephen King story, you might expect something creepy. That was the case with his versions of Doctor Sleep and Gerald's gameThis is not the case with The life of Chuckthat doesn't try to scare you or awaken your worst nightmares. It's a story about celebrating what we have while we have it, a sentiment encapsulated by a dazzling seven-minute dance sequence from Tom Hiddleston.
The life of Chuck It actually starts out as a post-apocalyptic story. When Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a recently divorced high school teacher, is doing his interviews with his parents, no one is interested in test scores or behavioral problems. Instead, the parents can’t stop talking about whether the Internet really is down forever or how California is steadily crumbling into the ocean. One father is moved to tears at the thought of a life without Pornhub. The tragedies are so persistent that they’re impossible to ignore: large cities underwater, wildfires burning large swaths of land, volcanoes erupting in Germany and, on the very highway Marty takes to work, sinkholes swallowing cars.
Then things get weird. Marty notices a curious poster thanking a guy named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Hiddleston) for “39 wonderful years!” There’s no other context. Then the ad pops up everywhere. There are TV ads and radio spots during NPR shows, and at one point, even a skywriter thanks Chuck for his service. As the ads become more plentiful, the world around him approaches what seems like oblivion. Through it all, Marty can’t help but wonder, “Who the hell is Chuck?”
This is how the movie begins, but it is the third act of The life of Chuck, which moves in the opposite direction. From there, we learn who Chuck is. He is a successful accountant approaching 40 who has accepted the seeming banality of his life, but who, from time to time, is drawn back to his childhood. It was then that his grandmother instilled in him a love of dance that blossomed in high school but eventually fizzled out.
One day, while wandering the streets of Boston after spending the entire day at a financial conference, he hears a busker playing drums and can’t help himself: he drops his briefcase and starts dancing. It lasts a full seven minutes, and it’s hard to take your eyes off of Hiddleston when he moves. He’s spontaneous and joyful, and he can even do a pretty convincing moonwalk. The final act explores a younger Chuck (Jacob Tremblay) who is forced to deal with multiple tragedies and finds a way to cope through them through dance. Soon enough, it comes full circle with the film’s strange opening in a way I won’t give away.
What is the most remarkable thing about The life of Chuck It's the journey this structure takes you on. At first, when the world literally falls apart, it creates a sense that we're all small and insignificant. But the rest of the film does exactly the opposite: it shows how every life, even those that end too quickly, is full of depth and wonder. The metaphor isn't exactly subtle: this is a Mike Flanagan film, after all. And, in a way, The life of Chuck He indulges many of his worst tendencies, not only a lack of subtlety but also a penchant for long monologues and sentimentality. These elements can occasionally undermine his horror work, but they are fitting. The life of Chuck perfectly.
Flanagan has always been a storyteller who uses horror as a way to explore drama at a heightened level. In this film, he simply removes the horror. The life of Chuck It doesn't stray from his usual habits, but is an ideal vehicle for them. It's also a fitting adaptation for another reason: in its final moments, it turns out to be a haunting ghost story after all.
This review is based on a screening at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The life of Chuck It currently has no theatrical release date.
