The Life of Chuck dances through the end of the world

When Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass) adapts a Stephen King story, you mightiness expect thing spooky. That was existent with his takes connected Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game. It’s not the lawsuit with The Life of Chuck, which isn’t trying to creep you retired oregon pat into your darkest nightmares. It’s a communicative astir celebrating what we person portion we person it — a feeling encapsulated by a dazzling seven-minute-long creation series from Tom Hiddleston.

The Life of Chuck really starts retired arsenic a postapocalyptic tale. When Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a recently divorced precocious schoolhouse teacher, is doing his genitor / teacher interviews, nary 1 is funny successful trial scores oregon behaviour issues. Instead, the parents can’t halt talking astir whether the net is truly down for bully oregon however California is steadily crumbling into the ocean. One dada is moved to tears reasoning astir a beingness without Pornhub. The tragedies are truthful persistent that they’re intolerable to ignore: large cities underwater, wildfires torching immense swaths of land, volcanoes erupting successful Germany, and connected the precise aforesaid roadworthy that Marty takes to work, sinkholes swallowing up cars.

Then, things get weird. Marty notices a funny billboard thanking immoderate feline named Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Hiddleston) for “39 large years!” There’s nary different context. Then the advertisement appears everywhere. There are TV commercials and vigor ads during NPR shows, and astatine 1 point, adjacent a skywriter is thanking Chuck for his service. As the ads go much abundant, the satellite astir it gets person to what seems to beryllium oblivion. Through it all, Marty can’t assistance but wonder: “Who the hellhole is Chuck?”

That’s however the movie opens, but it’s the 3rd enactment of The Life of Chuck, which moves successful reverse. From there, we larn who Chuck is. He’s a palmy accountant nearing 40 who has travel to presumption with the seeming banality of his beingness but, each truthful often, is drawn backmost to his childhood. That’s erstwhile his grandma instilled a emotion of creation that blossomed successful mediate schoolhouse but yet fizzled out.

Then 1 day, portion wandering the streets of Boston aft spending each time astatine a fiscal conference, helium hears a busker wailing connected the drums, and helium conscionable can’t assistance himself: helium drops his briefcase and starts to dance. It lasts 7 full minutes, and it’s hard to instrumentality your eyes disconnected of Hiddleston erstwhile helium moves. It’s spontaneous and joyful, and helium tin adjacent propulsion disconnected a beauteous convincing moonwalk. The last enactment explores a younger Chuck (Jacob Tremblay) arsenic he’s forced to woody with aggregate tragedies and finds a mode to header done dance. Pretty soon, it brings things afloat ellipse with the film’s unusual opening successful a mode that I won’t spoil.

What’s astir singular astir The Life of Chuck is the travel this operation takes you on. At first, arsenic the satellite virtually crumbles away, it creates a feeling that we’re each tiny and insignificant. But the remainder of the movie does the nonstop opposite: it shows however each life, adjacent those that extremity acold excessively quickly, is afloat of extent and wonder. The metaphor isn’t precisely subtle — this is simply a Mike Flanagan film, aft all. And successful immoderate ways, The Life of Chuck indulges galore of his worst tendencies, not lone the deficiency of subtlety but besides a penchant for lengthy monologues and schmaltz. Those elements tin occasionally undermine his fearfulness work, but they hap to suit The Life of Chuck perfectly.

Flanagan has ever been a storyteller who uses fearfulness arsenic a mode of exploring play successful a much heightened state. Here, helium simply does distant with the horror. The Life of Chuck doesn’t get distant from his well-worn habits; rather, it’s an perfect conveyance for them. It’s besides a fitting adaptation for different reason: successful its precise past moments, it turns retired to beryllium a haunting shade communicative aft all.

This reappraisal is based connected a screening astatine the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The Life of Chuck presently doesn’t person a theatrical premiere date.