Talk about a year where Stephen King has multiple adaptations on both television and film. The films were both hit and miss while the HBO show focusing on Pennywise has drawn acclaim by adding more to the mythology of the clown. I think a typical day for King is him extending his arm and opening his hand to get the residual checks of his works. His work is adaptable, given to the right hands where it’s one of the best horror films and the best dramas. The latter is mostly overshadowed by the scarier stuff, but when it lands it lands on the dot. The Life of Chuck is one of the most underrated films of the year and I’ll even say it’s one of the best King adaptations.
1. Who is Chuck?
I will say that it’s very rare for me to pick up the book and read in preparation for the film release. The story which is part of a few unpublished novellas by King is part of a collection called “If It Bleeds”. This specific novella is roughly 100 pages long and it’s probably the easiest read that I’ve done for the author. To be clear, I’m not going to do a compare and contrast, just judging the film on its own merits. Also this is the first film that I’ve seen of Mike Flanagan, but we’ll talk about him in a bit.
Much like the book, the film is broken into three acts. Albeit told in reverse, as we see the world ending and getting to see who exactly Chuck was when he was alive. It’s kind of interesting to have the film start in the end since we’re following this one character as the whole world is slowly falling apart. Natural disasters and everything, but what’s peculiar is that he and others are seeing ads that are honoring Chuck. I just love how Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character Marty is perplexed by the ads but is trying to ignore all the disasters happening.
I feel that in some way the first, well third act is like a suspenseful disaster movie where all the characters are just dreading the end. Like, we see what’s going on and it’s impactful when the internet and general electricity just goes out. To me it makes sense to have this is be in a non-sequential order since it would be a downer to have everything just end. As the third act continues, we do get a glimpse of Chuck breathing his last breaths as his cancer kills him.
The other acts are just as good and are a bit more upbeat than being a total downer. We see Tom Hiddleston portray Chuck in his adult self. I think out of all the three acts I like the middle one due to seeing Chuck making a difference. Through dancing as he matches the beat of the local busker who sees him and tries to drum up her gig. Overall I didn’t think I would ever see Hiddleston dance to the beat. More so that he brings in a stranger to dance with him and it just makes the scene better.
I might as well talk about what’s going on with the movie before talking about the last, well first act. Given everything that we know, Chuck is just a regular guy. There’s no ability or shining gift, like he’s just a bifocal wearing dapper kind of guy where he takes the initiative to dance. With no second thought, he just does it as he invites a woman who’s never met him to dance to complete the busker’s gig. To me, it’s about living his life to the fullest since he does it for the good time and that he changed the attitude of the woman.
The final act is where we see Chuck in his youth as we see him living with his grandparents. As well as where he found his gift of dance. I love the chemistry between the kid and his old folks. Especially when Chuck is with Mark Hamill when he gives him sage advice on how to look at life through a different lens. One mystery aspect that is included is that Chuck is forbidden to enter a section of the house. To the point where Hamill gets upset at him but comforts him when he unintentionally scares him.
The whole dancing moment is great as we see young Chuck learning how to dance and when it all leads to the school dance where he owns the floor. It’s all great especially when he gets a peptalk from his dance teacher to take the initiative. To me, it just shows how Chuck is unique as he does the dancing in honor of his grandmother and when we get a glimpse of the ads where he honors his grandfather as an accountant. He doesn’t do those things for the honor of anything but as tribute of his life experiences.
One more thing before I move on, I really like how we get glimpses of the images that happens in the first act. Like Marty, we see him as a middle school teacher but he appears in the school dance as he congratulates Chuck. More so that everything that Chuck sees appears in the beginning of the film. To the point that as we see the world ending, everything where Chuck is situated in the ICU is normal. Chuck’s world is ending and it’s really a unique way to show death without it being too on the nose that the entire world in general is gone as one significant person is gone.
2. Mike Flanagan
As I mentioned before, this is the first time that I’ve seen anything by Mike Flanagan. Nowadays, you can think of him as the next Frank Darabont or the late Rob Reiner. In a sense where he has adapted multiple Stephen King stories to film. He has a certain style when it comes to horror. Especially as he has contributed to Netflix’s shows such as The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher. Anyways, he doesn’t go for the typical scares but let’s the prelude play out before the horror stuff happens.
With this film, it’s interesting where the focus is on the character. It’s a character driven story where we learn a lot about the guy without seeing a typical day of him when he’s older. I think it was wise to show us his influences play in the end, to tie up the loose ends of why he danced with a stranger. I like that it’s a story where it feels passive since we see how it plays out backwards, but Chuck is active as he takes the initiative to be a better person. To the point where he gets a glimpse of his future, but decides to still live his life.
3. Overall
The Life of Chuck is a severely underrated film of this year, and it’s one of the best King films to come out.
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