The Life of Chuck: a film for grown-ups wrestling with the big questions of life
This Stephen King adaptation takes on the meaning of life, death and the universe.
A couple of times recently I’ve been moved by a film that’s actually about death for a change. Not grief and loss and its impact on everyone left behind – although that’s not to diminish those feelings – but about the process of dying and its effect on the one who’s actually doing it.
A few weeks ago, the Danny Boyle zombie flick 28 Years Later surprised me with the sensitivity of how it approached the inevitable death of a central character.
Now we have The Life of Chuck, a film that’s destined to join the list of favourite Stephen King adaptations alongside The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me. It’s adapted from a King short story by Mike Flanagan, who in 2019 adapted the sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep.
The Life of Chuck is constructed as something of a puzzle, though it’s a satisfying one.
Its three-act structure goes in reverse so that the mystery of the first third – the end of the actual world – is solved by the final third.
It’s King, so there’s always a risk of it being too clever by half but for me it landed beautifully.
Tom Hiddleston plays Charles Kranz, in the first third he’s a mysterious figure on a billboard, distracting the townsfolk – including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and a lovely performance from Matthew Lillard - who are just trying to get by as the world they knew disintegrates around them.
In the middle third, he’s a mild-mannered accountant sneaking away from a conference to enjoy some dancing in the street.
And in the final third, he’s a child – played among others by Jacob Tremblay from the wonderful film Room back in 2015 – and we get to meet his grandparents who are raising him after a family tragedy.
They are played by Mia Sara – still occupying a corner of my heart from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the great Mark Hamill, in full Wilford Brimley mode as an accountant making a powerful case for accountancy.
I don’t want to give too much away – and I fear I have already – but I do recommend The Life of Chuck as a film for grown-ups who are wrestling with the big questions of life. If it doesn’t answer them for you, it will at least take your mind off them.
