Mike Flanagan known for his adept handling of horror and Stephen King adaptations like Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, takes on King’s novella The Life of Chuck in his film. The Life of Chuck is Adapted from King’s 2020 collection If It Bleeds.
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The Life of Chuck is based on one of four novellas in Stephen King’s 2020 book If It Bleeds. Flanagan’s film adopts a non-linear structure presenting the story in reverse order.
The Life of Chuck is around an approach to life’s fleeting moments, encouraging the audience to hold onto what’s precious even in the face of tragedy. Flanagan was inspired by this message when he first read King’s novella during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The narrative begins in a dystopian world plagued by natural disasters, societal collapse and signs of impending doom. As the film progresses, it shifts to smaller more personal stories particularly Chuck’s formative years.
Hiddleston plays the Chuck, whose life we see unfold in reverse. He is pivotal in every act and his character’s mysterious presence looms large over the first two acts.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan play a schoolteacher and a nurse trying to go through a world in chaos while struggling with the increasing prominence of Chuck’s face on billboards across their town.
Mark Hamill as Chuck’s Grandfather, Hamill gives a mysterious performance as Chuck’s grandfather. The film also features performances by Mia Sara, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak and others, all of whom contribute to the web of characters that surround Chuck at different points in his life.
The Life of Chuck opens in a dystopian future where the world is falling apart. Flanagan sets an eerie, atmospheric tone as natural disasters, wildfires, earthquakes and failing technology contribute to society’s collapse.
Ejiofor and Gillan’s characters face this impending doom, all while being haunted by the face of Chuck on billboards thanking him for 39 great years.
This opening act is arguably the strongest, filled with suspense, dark humor and an apocalyptic eeriness that shows Flanagan’s strength as a horror director.
The second act shifts the focus to Chuck himself, now a middle-aged bank employee. In one of the film’s more unexpected sequences, Chuck breaks into a spontaneous dance routine with a passerby to the beat of a street musician’s drumming.
The scene featuring Hiddleston dancing in a heavily choreographed sequence feels disconnected from the rest of the film.
The final act dives into Chuck’s childhood focusing on his relationship with his grandparents and the mysterious locked door in their Victorian home. This part of the film is filled with Spielbergian nostalgia.
By the time the film reaches its first act (chronologically the last), much of the tension and built up earlier has dissipated.
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The reveals about Chuck’s past particularly his connection to the supernatural elements, feel weak and fail to live up to the expectations set by the previous acts.
Stephen King is associated with horror, with works like Carrie, The Shining and It. However, The Life of Chuck is far from the terrifying tales that King is known for.
The novella is more introspective dealing with themes of life, death and the human experience.
King himself described the adaptation as sad, with a touch of the paranormal, but also joyful and life-affirming, a description that might surprise those expecting a more traditionally terrifying story.
Director Mike Flanagan has a history with Stephen King adaptations, having successfully directed Gerald’s Game in 2017 and Doctor Sleep in 2019.
The Life of Chuck presented a different challenge for the filmmaker, as it strays from the horror genre that Flanagan and King are both well-known for. Flanagan described the novella as initially not having an obvious cinematic appeal, stating, “There’s no moment that roars off the page and says, ‘I want to be a movie.’”
The adaptation of The Life of Chuck has been called genre-bending, blending drama, surrealism and an end-of-world scenario with moments of joy and reflection.
This unconventional approach allowed Flanagan to experiment with different filmmaking techniques including varying aspect ratios and color palettes to show the story’s three distinct acts, which unfold in reverse chronological order.
One of the most elements of The Life of Chuck is its narrative structure. The story is split into three acts, each one unfolding in reverse order starting with the end of the world and moving backward through the key moments of Chuck’s life.
This reverse chronology creates a sense of mystery and discovery as the audience learns more about Chuck’s life as the film progresses. It also mirrors the way humans reflect on life, looking back at key moments and trying to make sense of them in retrospect.
The reverse narrative helps to emphasize the film’s memory, time and the importance of human connections.
As Flanagan pointed out, “Our lives are not ordered and monochromatic,” and the film’s structure shows this reality.
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