The Life of Chuck (2024), a reverse chronology masterpiece
Some movies pleasantly surprise you, and The Life of Chuck was one such film. I went into the cinema hall knowing nothing except that it was based on a story by legendary author Stephen King, and that turned out to be a good thing. Strictly speaking, the film is not science fiction, but it comes closest to that genre. Generally, films that intersect sci-fi and philosophy are difficult to write screenplays for, but director Mike Flanagan has managed to hit it out of the park while keeping it simple for most audiences to understand.
The movie is a masterclass in narrating a story using an unconventional reverse-chronological structure, and it works thoroughly well this way. The story starts with Act 3, where a middle school teacher, Marty Anderson and his ex-wife notice environmental destruction happening at unimaginable scales around the world and soon near them. They keep spotting billboards and advertisements saying “Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!”. What is happening around the world and who this Chuck is gets revealed in Act 2 and Act 1.
I was impressed with the dialogues, which were sharp yet easy to understand. Unlike most genre-bending movies that tend to have complicated and nonsensical jargon, this film keeps things clear. In one scene at a local community care clinic, while witnessing unprecedented suicides, a male nurse asks his female colleague something like, “In this world nearing doomsday, do you think more marriages or divorces are happening?” She replies, “ Divorce takes more than six months. When no one knows what will happen the next minute, I am sure marriages are happening since it just needs a single form.”
Another memorable dialogue comes when a grandfather, who works as an accountant, explains the importance of mathematics to his grandson in an easy way. He says something like, “ These files are on my table; others only see figures. But, I see them as people’s lives that I can save by doing the numbers correctly. Our planet goes around thanks to maths. Everyone thinks a day has 24 hours, but that is incorrect. It has 23 hours, 56 minutes and a few seconds. “
The famous astrophysicist Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Calendar, which visualises the chronology of the universe as months in a year, gets repeated throughout the movie for intense effect. Walt Whitman ‘s poem “Song of Myself” also appears frequently. I was not aware of the latter before seeing the movie, but I enjoyed both references.
Mark Hamill as the grandfather, Mia Sara as the grandmother, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Marty the school teacher have done their roles well. Tom Hiddleston was impressive in his role and was brilliant in the dance sequence. So was the young 11-year-old boy played by Benjamin Pajak. The director has ensured we remember even the smallest roles that appear in the film.
Everything in Act 3 gets nicely mapped to events in Act 2 and Act 1, fitting like a glove. This gives a very satisfying feeling to the whole movie, unlike many other films in this genre. The Life of Chuck surprised me in the best possible way.
Originally published at https://venkatarangan.com on June 18, 2025.
