“Life of Chuck,” playing at the M.V. Film Center starting June 20, is a perplexing film. There is mystery, humor, love, and a streak of horror mixed in, which isn’t surprising, since it is based on a Stephen King 2020 short story of the same title.
The film, directed by Mike Flanagan, begins chronologically at the end, or more specifically, at act three: “Thanks Chuck.” It opens with a student in front of the class reciting Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” When the teenager reads the lines, “I am large, I contain multitudes,” emergency vehicles fly by the classroom windows in a small town. Soon, students’ cellphones erupt. When their teacher, Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), asks what is happening, the youth tell him the internet is blowing up about another earthquake in California, with everything from Santa Barbara to Fresno having fallen into the ocean.
Soon, we find ourselves amid a full-blown apocalypse, experienced through Marty and his ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillan), a hospital nurse dealing with many patients dying by suicide as devastating natural disasters and horrifying political unrest overtake the world. The two reconnect as friends while everything around them disintegrates.
Amid the doom and gloom there are moments of humor. When the internet goes down for good, a father whom Marty has called in for a parent-teacher conference about his child’s failing grades is distracted and more upset about the lack of web access to his favorite porn.
There are also philosophical themes that will recur throughout the film. In addition to Whitman’s poem, which prompts us to reflect on the idea that every human life is a universe unto itself, there is a connection between mathematics and the cosmos.
We first hear about this when Marty meets a retired owner and chief undertaker with an interest in meteorology. He explains that there are 23 hours and 56 minutes and some odd sections in a day, and that the Earth’s rotation is slowing down. Reflecting on things coming apart at the seams, the undertaker says, “We treated our mother very badly … but we’re puny compared to the great clock of the universe.”
Woven throughout this act is the happy image of Chuck Krantz, along with the words “39 Great Years! Thanks Chuck!” Dressed in a suit and tie, glasses, and a broad smile, this seemingly ordinary, mild-mannered accountant mysteriously appears on billboards, TV screens, and even, eerily, in house windows when all the lights in town go out. However, no one knows who this person is, or why we are supposed to thank him. Then, just at the end of the section, we encounter a very diminished Chuck (Tom Hiddleston), who is dying of cancer.
The mood changes dramatically in Act Two: “Buskers Forever.” Nine months earlier, on a sunny day, a busker, played by the drummer Taylor Gordon, sets up her set on the street to play for change. A vital-looking Chuck walks by; caught by the rhythm, he stops, puts down his briefcase, and as the music carries him away starts to trip the light fantastic. And he’s good — very good. He pulls a partner from the crowd, a recently dumped-by-her-boyfriend onlooker, Janice Halliday (Annalise Basso), and the two dance up an improvised storm. In the aftermath of their success, the two spend the rest of the day together, and we learn more about Chuck, which leads us into the first (and final) act.
Here, we rewind to Chuck’s childhood and teenage years, which is a beautiful coming-of-age segment that answers many mysteries we’ve encountered throughout (including where he learned to dance so fabulously), and the connection between Chuck’s life and the end of the world.
By telling the story in reverse chronological order, we move from big to small. From worldwide to individual, thereby alluding to Whitman’s line, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
“Life of Chuck” begins on Friday, June 20, at the M.V. Film Center. For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
