A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King’s novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
This film tells us about the “life of ordinary”, and “Can we indulge ourselves in that life and experience unabiding joy and hope and love?” In each ordinary person, there exist other lives and times. Lives within lives within lives. “The Life of Chuck” won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024, and the story is drawn from a novella by Stephen King, ‘If It Bleeds.’ The film’s title may be confusing to some (my neighbor told me it was a “prequel” to ”Chuckie”), as it is simply a story of joy amid sadness and the many universes inside each of us.
The story is told in an unusual sequence, beginning with the last chapter, when Chuck (Tom Hiddleston) is a grown man working as an accountant. It is the world’s last chapter, as well as services slowly shutting down all over the globe. However, there are moments of sheer joy that replace fear and sadness as the Earth’s population waits for what is coming.
Now the story resumes telling Chuck’s life history in a linear narrative that begins with Chuck as a child who has lost both parents in a terrible car crash and now must live with his grandparents. All are unsure how this will play out for Chuck as they get acquainted. This is Stephen King’s example of a story within a story, as Chuck soon discovers the world of dancing through his grandmother. Dancing brings great joy, but suddenly, Grandmother is dead, and Charlie is left with just his grandfather, beautifully played by Mark Hamill of STAR WARS fame.
Flanagan’s interpretation of King’s novella is inspiring, uplifting, and surprising. No violence, no horror, just ordinary people living ordinary lives and reaching out to harvest special moments of connectedness and joy. Tom Hiddleston does great character work as the adult Chuck. There is an iconic dance scene that may forever be the spotlight of this film as Chuck takes a moment and slips back into the joy he experienced as a boy.
“The Life of Chuck” replaces the fear and sadness as we face the unknown with the joy waiting within us all to be plucked and experienced. This is “live in the moment” to the Nth degree! Thank you, Mike Flanagan!
In Theaters Friday, June 13th
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