This review of The Life of Chuck, the new film by Mike Flanagan based on a novella by Stephen King, starts in 1994. I was only 14 years old, still educating myself in the world of movies, when I found myself sitting down to see this new one everyone was talking about called Pulp Fiction. As it got toward the end, however, I found myself incredibly confused. Wasn’t John Travolta’s character dead? How was he back? I may have only been a kid, but I knew I’d watched him die, and now he was alive again. It wasn’t until a little later when my formative teenage brain realized director Quentin Tarantino was telling his story out of order that I began to understand. That was something I had yet to encounter in burgeoning film fandom, and it helped turn Pulp Fiction into one of my favorite films ever.
I mention this in a review of The Life of Chuck because the first time I saw it, I had a similar reaction. The Life of Chuck is very purposefully told backwards, and when characters from the third act (which you see first) appeared in illogical ways in the first act (which you see third), it didn’t quite click. I was absolutely loving the movie, but one tiny piece was missing. Then, once that piece clicked for me, everything came together. It was a perfect puzzle that needed a touch more effort than most movies do.
That’s not to say The Life of Chuck will have the kind of infinite cultural impact Pulp Fiction did, but both films are beautiful in part because of their faith in the audience. Both are films bold enough to leave things to the imagination, to not connect every dot, and then let you figure it out for yourself. And, like Pulp Fiction, when you watch The Life of Chuck a second time—which I had the privilege of doing before writing this review—it’s like watching a new movie. You can see every piece of foreshadowing in the story. Every clue that’s subtly laced in there. And absent from any confusion, you can think about the film’s bigger intentions and choices, which is where The Life of Chuck truly shines.
The Life of Chuck stars Tom Hiddleston as the title character, Charles “Chuck” Kranz, who in the first part of the film is described as “Oz of the apocalypse.” Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan lead a wholly intriguing, provocative, and terrifying story of the end of the world, where Chuck’s image just so happens to keep popping up. Hiddleston takes over the role in the second act, which dramatizes a short but memorable moment in his life, and then the role is passed to three young actors—Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, and Jacob Tremblay—in the last third, as we see Chuck’s childhood. As the story dives deeper into who Chuck really was, Flanagan lets both the character and the audience consider the universe and our place in it.
The film is filled with mind-bending philosophical conversations about dancing, math, the universe, and more, most of which we learn as Chuck does. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and it continually keeps you on your toes. Along the way, the film asks us to never forget the first third of the movie where Chuck was the star of another story, and slowly start to work it all out. We’re watching this beautiful rumination on the simple pleasures of life, all while this large mystery of “What the hell was that?” looms over it like a cloud.
Flanagan fills his story with fantastic actors giving career-best performances. There’s Ejiofor and Gillan of course, but also Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Carl Lumbly (Captain America: Brave New World), and even Mark Freaking Hamill. All of the actors playing Chuck are delightful too, with Pajak having the largest role and thereby making the most impact. Some of these characters appear in more than one segment, but most don’t, a choice that makes a lot of sense once you understand what the film is actually doing.
But, I have to admit, without piecing that puzzle together, The Life of Chuck does feel a little empty. It may, in fact, but a little too subtle with its intentions on a first pass. There’s a fine line with making your narrative too obvious to be powerful and too subtle to be clear, and Flanagan walks that line throughout the whole movie. However, if you watch the movie a second time, you can see it’s much less subtle than you thought on a first watch. It’s just about paying attention and remaining engaged.
The Life of Chuck is a powerful and beautiful movie. It’s filled with humor and heart, as well as incredible conversations and revelations. It’s also more than a little out there, and certainly not for everyone. When you see it for what it truly is, though, it may change not just how you look at movies, but your own life as well.
The Life of Chuck is now playing in limited release and opens wide June 13.
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