Midway through its runtime, Mike Flanagan's "Life of Chuck" introduces a kind of mantra, via a line of dialogue taken from Stephen King's short story of the same name: "Would answers make a good thing better?" The implication is a resounding "No," which fits with the "Haunting of Bly Manor" creator's esoteric (and esoterically structured) drama about life, death, and cosmic mysteries. However, it also ends up making this point completely wrong, oscillating between a crass literalism that robs the film of its greatest euphoric power.
Like King's story—one of four novellas collected in the book "If It Bleeds"—"Life of Chuck" is divided into three acts played in reverse, each narrated by Nick Offerman. It opens with the "Third Act," which chronicles the crumbling world from the perspective of a small American town. The internet has been down for months and is about to go dark, along with the television and cell phone service.
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writers: Mike Flanagan, Stephen King
Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak
Meanwhile, climate change has devastated almost every country (California has practically submerged itself in the Pacific) and suicide rates have skyrocketed, forcing local doctor Felicia (Karen Gillan) to try to stay afloat. However, Flanagan manages the daunting task of infusing this premise of rampant death with bursts of macabre and surreal humor, while Felicia's ex, teacher Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), tries to convince nihilistic parents to continue educating their children.
The most frequent topics of conversation in this town include the latest catastrophic news and people wondering about the curious billboards they've seen thanking a bespectacled, professionally dressed man named Charles "Chuck" Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) for his "39 magnificent years." Is he a doctor? A radio host? A local TV personality? No one seems to know, but this is just one of the many questions that plague the film's characters and, by now, the audience, who are undoubtedly wondering how this apocalypse came about. However, "Life of Chuck" doesn't rush to provide linear answers, at least not at first. Instead, it features deep conversations between Felicia and Marty, who reflect not only on the state of the world, but on humanity's very existence, now that society may be taking its last breath.
How Chuck's character fits into this thoughtful, Twilight Zone-esque saga is a question left in limbo as the film moves into "Act Two" and, finally, "Act One," segments that do follow Hiddleston's character. The film's middle section, however, is almost entirely comprised of an impromptu dance sequence, in which a seemingly frustrated Chuck joins a distraught young woman, Lauren (Annalise Basso), in a spontaneous street swing session, set to the beat of a busker playing drums. Its connection to the previous segment of the film is, at first glance, null, but it creates a wonderful thematic resonance with its morbid predecessor, as a depiction of a life lived to the fullest despite regrets.
The scene is distinctly uncharacteristic of Flanagan, brimming with energy and positivity—uncharacteristic of the horror maestro—but it's incredibly well-crafted, with rhythmic framing and editing reminiscent of someone who has dedicated his entire career to making musicals. Unfortunately, the film's score is rarely as propulsive or original, recalling the familiar notes of "Interstellar" and "The Social Network" without the sustained impact of either.
In its final segment, the film follows Chuck's childhood through a syrupy, melancholic story in which his grandfather (Mark Hamill) becomes a vital focal point. The story concerns ghostly premonitions and a locked door leading to a secret, creepy attic—that's how it sounds, Mike—but also the origins of Chuck's relationship with dance. To reveal much more of the plot would be a disservice to the film, but this final section also features echoes (through dialogue and production design) that permeate the rest of the film, creating small connections between past and present that imbue the film's mysteries with a sense of wonder.
Unfortunately, in constructing itself in this poetic manner, "Life of Chuck" also underplays its hand and inelegantly explains the previously mysterious connections between Chuck and characters like Felicia and Marty. Where fleeting clues and implications might have sufficed, the film continues to move away from its coming-of-age story to focus on details that further emphasize its highly mechanistic "revelations."
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