In the opening scene of The Life Of Chuck, adapted by writer-director Mike Flanagan from one of Stephen King’s previously unpublished novellas contained in the 2009 collection If It Bleeds, a high school teacher tries in vain to engage his class with a verse of Walt Whitman’s poem Song Of Myself.
“I am large, I contain multitudes,” recites the teacher.
A student interrupts and Whitman’s words hang in the air, by design, and slowly reverberate through this unabashed tearjerker in three parts, recounted in reverse chronological order to withhold the waterworks and regrets until a sombre concluding chapter.
The end is the beginning, and vice versa, which feels apt for a film that ponders mortality and what happens (if anything) to the human spirit after death.
Do we linger on this mortal plane, are we reborn in a different form as professed by some religions, or is our time finite, fleeting and painfully precious?
Flanagan’s picture dances, quite literally, around those existential questions and only trips over its own nimble footwork in an anticlimactic final stretch when there are no tantalising mysteries left to answer because we have already filled in the narrative gaps with help from an omnipresent voiceover (Nick Offerman) that says too much.
Hiddleston is luminous in the middle chapter, Buskers Forever, channelling the grace and athleticism of Fred Astaire through the exuberant and joyful choreography of Mandy Moore.
The reverse chronology ‘begins’ with high school teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) witnessing the demise of the internet and a series of natural disasters that herald the end of the world.
He reestablishes contact with ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan) as various advertisements dedicated to accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Hiddleston) materialise, thanking him for 39 years of dedicated service.
In flashback, we learn 11-year-old Chuck (Benjamin Pajak) was raised by his paternal grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill) and grandmother Sarah (Mia Sara).
She ignites the boy’s love of dancing and he joins a Twirlers And Spinners class run by teacher Miss Rohrbacher (Samantha Sloyan) and impresses his crush (Trinity Bliss).
Later, or perhaps earlier, a young woman called Janice (Annalise Basso), who has just been dumped by text, watches Chuck dance on the street to a drumming busker (Taylor Gordon) and she succumbs to the same intoxicating beat to join him for a euphoric boogie.
The Life Of Chuck repeatedly plucked my heartstrings but I remained strangely dry-eyed.
Individual sequences are beautifully realised but there’s an emotional disconnect, particularly in the final chapter, I Contain Multitudes.
Flanagan’s artfully constructed picture contains multitudes of ideas and a heartfelt appreciation for the connections we make with each other, even for a few minutes when preordained paths intersect.
At some point, we are all going to face the music, so let’s dance.
Rating: 7/10
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