“Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time”, pondered scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan in his novel Cosmos. It’s a thought that perhaps may have been on Stephen King’s mind when he was writing the novella, The Life of Chuck, which this Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) adaptation of the same name is based on. As in the book, the film plays out in reverse chronological order, beginning with Act 3 (Thanks, Chuck), Act 2 (Buskers) and Act 1 (I Contain Multitudes) and also references the aforementioned Sagan’s ‘Cosmic Calendar’.
Faced with the end of the world and his own mortality, teacher Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) reaches out to his ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan). The internet is no longer working and the infrastructure of society has collapsed, so they reconnect the old-fashioned way. Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston as an adult, and Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak and Cody Flanagan at different ages) is initially introduced via a series of strange billboards celebrating his 39 years on earth. Mark Hamill also appears as Chuck’s grandfather and The Pocket Queen aka Taylor Gordon, fills the screen with her incredible drumming talents in a scene that is quite frankly out of this world.
This is a film where time collapses in on itself, so nothing is as it first appears and to say much more would be to spoil the mystery. The unexpected reveals are all part of its charm. Flanagan is best known for his horror films (Oculus, Absentia) and Netflix adaptations of horror classics such as The Haunting of Hill House, but this film leans more into the philosophical than the gory with it striking a similar tone to Midnight Mass (minus the vampires) or Kogonada’s After Yang in its darker moments. It’s a genre-bending sci-fi drama with a huge amount of heart that reckons with love, memory and connection.
The Life of Chuck is a contemplative and visually wondrous film filled with flutters of excitement and dance sequences (reminiscent of Billy Elliot) that celebrates the best of creativity and humankind. Some cynics may find parts of the film unbearably sentimental, but following Covid and lockdown, where the world truly thought its time was up, it’s a tonic of a film that delves into the fragile mindset of humanity.
The Life of Chuck will be released in cinemas on 22 August 2025
