The Life of Chuck
Mike Flanagan's latest adaptation of Stephen King has some issues (monotonous pacing, an incessant narration), but its fine performances and Flanagan's fondness for theatricality make it work for the most part
There is a lot to love in Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 2020 short story about a man who mysteriously begins to appear in the lives of others. The director, a longtime King devotee, brings open-eyed and open-hearted earnestness to a tale of one man’s life – and the multitudes it contains – cut short. Schmaltzy? Sure, but the result matches perfectly with the source material and is supported wholeheartedly by the cast’s performances. Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Matthew Lillard all meld in seamlessly with Flanagan regulars in cameo roles; Hiddleston and Ejiofor are particularly effective as protagonists who, each in their own way, do not understand how their world can be ending when there is still so much life left in them.
Unfortunately, The Life of Chuck suffers from a slight under-commitment to the uncanny (selling some of its more “human” moments short) and from monotonous pacing – not helped by a plethora of narration, however charmingly delivered by Nick Offerman, and Flanagan’s penchant for monologues. But while the latter is unsuited for varied and interesting pacing – missing something of an opportunity in this time- and reality-bending exploration of consciousness and community – it proves the film’s saving grace. Long speeches are innately artificial, but in their overt theatricality, they are simultaneously innately sincere. The juxtaposition of form and content, presentation and possibility, reality and dream is an unmistakable directorial stamp on King’s worlds and characters. It will not work for all viewers, but the retelling is richer for it.
Released 20 Aug by StudioCanal; certificate 15