“Math is Truth.” Albie (Mark Hamill)
The Life of Chuck is anyone’s life as it might have been told by Terence Malik (Tree of Life), only more updated and more romantic if that is even possible. Writer/director Mike Flanagan, with the help of Stephen King, crafts the life story of a slightly dweeby accountant Charles (Tom Hiddleston) in reverse order (from end to beginning in three chapters, after a few seconds, you are drawn into his life as we blissfully witness out of order high points of his life.
One of those points that lets us see the beautiful inside of this unassuming accountant is an al fresco dance in which he and a just-jilted young lass, Annalise Basso, break into mesmerizing dance numbers that remind me how much I delighted in Astaire and Rigers’ routines and after them Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in LaLa Land. For the 4 dancers in both films, an angelic influence seems probable as they illustrate the ability of humans to rise to the stars even when the world seems to be at an end.
Hiddleston’s dance chops are considerable, to be out done only by chapter one’s 6th grade Chuck, played by Benjamin Pajak. The Life of Chuck is worth seeing this little charmer dance right into your heart. Pajak is so at home on the screen that like Chuck he will be celebrated until the end. Pajak could carry this great film; he is that good.
For Chuck, the opening of the universe to him occurs in two motifs—the classroom and his grandfather (Mark Hamil). While Carl Sagan introduces him to the math of the universe, Chuck learns from his book-keeper Grandpa the underlying artfulness of math. For those put off by inscrutable math, enjoy your introduction to its romantic attachment to each life. Praise goes to Star Wars’ Mark Hamill for his acting, finally in a part made for him at this time of his life.
The Life of Chuck is wispy song about the individual life, even if it’s given only 39 years. The Carl-Sagan influenced ending may be a bit perplexing, and some extraneous story telling may be questionable, but you will be elevated to the stars by the main story of an unassuming man who dances into your heart.
The Life of Chuck
Director: Mike Flanagan (Before I wake)
Screenplay: Flanagan, from Stephen King short story
Cast: Tom Hiddleston (Loki)
Rating: R
Length: Ih 51m
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com