The Life of Chuck
Starring Tom Hiddleston, Annalise Basso and Mark Hamill
M
3.75/5
Directed by Mike Flanagan and based on a Stephen King novella, The Life of Chuck is a poignant, life-affirming drama about facing personal and global mortality and not letting the world trample your passion, sadly hampered by intrusive narration.
The Life of Chuck is presented in reverse-chronological order: Act 3 shows the world lurching to an end as Charles “Chuck” Krantz dies of cancer, Act 2 has Chuck dance spontaneously in the street one day, and Act 1 shows young Chuck finding an enduring love for dance.
With low-key performances and intricate dialogue, the sombre Act 3 shows how if the world is slowly, haphazardly ending, all you can do is talk about it and be there for those you love.
The best scene in the film is an electric, sexy, joyous scene of Chuck dancing with a stranger named Janice (Annalise Basso) to a busker’s drumming in Act 2.
Act 1 features Mark Hamill as Chuck’s nurturing but troubled grandfather and neatly ties the rest of the film together.
Act 1 turns Chuck’s Act 2 street-dance into a reminiscence and rebirth of sorts, and populates the imaginative terrain of Act 3 with little details and conversations, meaning our comprehension runs backward like the narrative.
My main issue with The Life of Chuck is Nick Offerman’s obtrusive narration, which so often needlessly describes what we can easily see or infer ourselves.
Chuck and Janice’s wonderful street-dance needs no intrusive exposition for us to enjoy it or appreciate its significance to Chuck.
Turn off Offerman and The Life of Chuck would be significantly better.
A touching puzzle of many pieces dancing into place but with annoying, excessive narration (though this might just be a pet peeve of mine), The Life of Chuck is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
