The Life of Chuck (2024)

Dir: Mike Flanagan

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill

I found myself surprisingly unmoved by Mike Flanagan’s TIFF winner, A hollow experience that tries to disguise its narrative void with a shallow meditation on life and death

Since the Academy Awards opened the Best Picture race to more than just five contenders, a fascinating bond has formed between Hollywood’s biggest night and the Toronto International Film Festival. Time and again, films that have walked away with TIFF’s coveted People’s Choice Award have found themselves not only nominated for Best Picture, but sometimes even taking home Oscar gold. Remarkably, in the sixteen years since the expansion, only one People’s Choice winner has missed out on an Oscar nod: the Levantine Arabic film “Where Do We Go Now?” in 2011.

With expectations now sky-high, TIFF winners are often seen as Oscar frontrunners immediately following the festival in September. So, when Mike Flanagan’s life-affirming drama “The Life of Chuck” snatched the People’s Choice award last year, industry and award experts were stunned. The film had quietly slipped beneath the awards radar, only to outshine heavyweights like “Emilia Perez” and “Anora”, the latter eventually going on to win the Oscar for Best Picture in March. Overnight, “The Life of Chuck” found itself in the award season conversation, yet its path took a twist: Neon, who had acquired distribution rights following TIFF, postponed the release to the following summer. Now, with the film finally hitting UK cinemas, two months after the US, Neon can finally launch an Oscar campaign a year behind and squaring off against a new wave of contenders, including whatever film claims TIFF’s top honour this September.

“The Life of Chuck” emerges as the newest chapter in the ever-expanding universe of Stephen King adaptations, drawn from the 2020 novella of the same name. This marks the third occasion director Mike Flanagan has ventured into King’s more obscure, contemporary tales, after adapting “Gerald’s Game” (2017) and “Doctor Sleep” (2019). Flanagan is also in the process of producing an upcoming television adaptation of King’s legendary novel “Carrie”.

Although Flanagan and King have made their names in the realm of horror, “The Life of Chuck” stands out as one of King’s most heartfelt works, delving into the mysteries of existence, mortality, and the invisible threads that bind us all. Like the novella, the film plays out in reverse, beginning with the intriguingly named third act, “Thanks Chuck”. Rather than introducing us to the titular accountant, the film opens on middle school teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and his ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillan), as they navigate a world, and perhaps a universe, seemingly teetering on the brink, battered by relentless natural disasters.

The next two acts shift focus to 39-year-old Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston), who bursts into an impromptu dance on the street, swept up by the rhythm of a drumming busker. The story then rewinds to his childhood, shadowed by the tragic loss of his parents in a car crash. At just 11, young Chuck (Benjamin Pajak) finds a new home with his paternal grandparents, Albie (Mark Hamill) and Sarah (Mia Sara). His radiant grandmother inspires him to dance, urging him to join the school’s dance programme, while the sharp-tongued Albie, numbed by grief and drink, forbids Chuck from venturing into the house’s mysterious cupola.

I have long admired both Flanagan and King, particularly for their mastery of the horror genre. King, in particular, seems to hurl everything he has at his projects, resulting in a staggering body of work. Although I am not deeply familiar with the novella behind this adaptation, I am aware that it shares a similar setup. Despite its inventive reverse-chronology structure, the film feels hollow, lacking any real narrative depth. King’s most heartfelt tales have been beautifully brought to the screen before, with classics like “Stand by Me” (1986), “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), and “The Green Mile” (1999)still resonating decades later. In contrast, “The Life of Chuck” carries itself with a self-importance that tries to persuade viewers of its depth, but never quite delivers.

The film’s structure sparks curiosity at first, but that spark quickly fizzles as Act Two lays everything bare with heavy-handed visual hints. Instead of trusting the audience, the film insists on hammering home its cosmic themes and existential musings from start to finish. The emotional moments feel manufactured, as if Flanagan has strayed far from his strengths, struggling to tug at our heartstrings with a shallow and almost self-important meditation on life, death, and the universe.

The film does raise intriguing questions about the nature of existence, suggesting that each person crafts their own universe from memories and experiences, all destined to fade. Yet this exploration is delivered with such boldness that it robs the audience of the pleasure of discovery, leaving little room for emotional payoff.

Despite its narrative missteps and air of self-satisfaction, “The Life of Chuck” occasionally reveals Flanagan’s flair for striking visuals that echo the film’s ambitious themes. The true standout, though, is the spontaneous dance sequence at the heart of the film, which has dominated Neon’s marketing campaign. Hiddleston, despite having limited screen time in his starring role, gets to showcase his natural dance skills, previously displayed in his chat show appearances, despite not being classically trained in the art. The scene flirts with the spirit of Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” (2016) before channelling the wild energy of Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” video, where Christopher Walken famously danced through a hotel atrium. Without this viral-worthy dance, the film would likely slip from memory, its surprise TIFF victory last year the only thing keeping it in the spotlight after a lacklustre box office run.

The Verdict:

Despite brief but notable performances from Mark Hamill and Mia Sara, “The Life of Chuck” ultimately succumbs to its own overindulgent meditation on life and death. After a genuinely intriguing first act, the film stops trusting its audience, slipping into a heavy-handed and emotionally muted narrative that fails to engage beyond its superficial existential themes.

The Life of Chuck is now showing in UK Cinemas

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